Going Under
by The What-If Writer
Summary: A Darker retelling and AU Of Pirates and Survivors; Cast into the stormy seas after witnessing terrible destruction, Clementine must put her trust in a gang of strangers and learn to survive in a world that's crumbling around them. The old rules are over, and its the strongest who survive - now either its them or the pirates who will live. The struggle begins. Rates just in case.
1. Chapter 1

_What am I doing back here?_

_I needed something else to fill my mind than my more serious fics, something fun, and interesting. So here it is- a darker version and retelling of my series, Pirates and Survivors. This will not replace it, and it'll always have a place in my heart. Where this goes depends. I may not continue or finish it, I'm just diving in like I did with Pirates and Survivors...and something bigger came out of that fun little idea._

_My writing's more detailed now, my characters are hopefully more fleshed out._

_Let's see where this goes._

_Clementine is back, B*tches._

* * *

The World That's Going Under

Chapter 1: Cold Winds

The thunder echoed across the raging sea; a vast quivering blanket of grey and black. It seemed the lively blue shade the sea and sky had once been had drained itself off all hope and warmth, leaving nothing but shrivelled clouds above. The rain was plummeting mercilessly down. Reverberating sounds, as loud and deep as the thunder above, rang through the land. The waves hit relentlessly against the rubble that was once land, and the frantic scramble of feet and hooves accompanied the sounds of destruction to create an orchestra of complete and utter horror.

She could only see flashes of it all. One moment she could see the land, encased in cracking ice and half-slipping into the sea as it broke away, and the next she was below...deep below, seeing nothing but endless blurry grey water. She lunged up once again, breathing in the salty air and scrabbling with tired, aching arms. Her fur was soaked and the seawater stung her wounds. The yelling was close, but not close enough for her own calls to reach.

She breathed in again- and swallowed a mouthful of water. She gagged, slipping back under, the cold stinging against her fur and skin. She panicked. This was it- she was losing control, couldn't breathe-

Suddenly she collided with something- ice. A lot of it. She raised her head and gave a hacking cough, scrabbling at it with small paws- an iceberg, small and flat, had broken away from the land. It was floating away from it, but it was floating all the same.

The rabbit doe heaved herself up, but only managed to cling to the side, her frail chest hitting hard and painfully against the solid surface. Despite the pain she held on.

The thundering of hooves made the ice below her tremble, and she forced her eyes upward. Through her panic she saw a tall creature with lean antlers; one slightly chipped and his sleek body covered in scars. She breathed in, but was unable to form words. He had not seen her yet, his terror-stricken eyes were locked on the land that was getting further away.

Some animals had fallen into the water, only to have falling ice collapse upon them in showers of screams- the rabbit doe screwed her eyes shut to stop herself seeing. Most of the flock of animals where running inland, only to be caught by the cracks forming there. There was no escape from this. Land, sea, wherever you went, there was no escape.

"Get onto the ice! Don't stay on the land, its falling apart!"

The Elk's voice carried across the raging wind to the land, but it seemed no one was listening to his pleas. Panicked and foolish, they ran inland, where mountain sides fell towards them and the ground gave away below them.

The rabbit doe let out another hacking cough- and the elk's head snapped towards her. After a single blink he stumbled over, uneven on the ice, and offered his antler- she grabbed it without a second thought and allowed herself to be dragged onto the ice berg.

"We have-to-get others..." The elk rasped, as if her appearance had given him hope. She couldn't answer, laying where she was. She pushed herself onto her paws and up on her arms, breathing heavily.

The elk bounded back to the edge of the small berg they were on; old roots keeping it tethered to the land. But it wouldn't last. The roaring wind was trying to pull them away, and the tall walls of rock above threatened to crush them.

Once again the elk bellowed his advice- get off the land, its falling apart- but no one listened. More fell to their deaths, she couldn't bear to watch...

Then, someone waddled to the side of the land. A very round, turtle-like being, was eyeing the gap between him and the berg. The elk caught sight of him and called, almost hysterically,

"Hurry! The roots won't hold!"

The she-rabbit admired his need, his want to save others. She watched, eyes wide, as the glyptodon waddled closer, and readied himself for a leap. He couldn't make it, could he?

He tossed himself into the water, and his teeth snapped over one of the roots dangling along the water. The elk stared, amazed, but had no way of pulling him in...

The rabbit found strength coming to her legs from nowhere, and slowly made her way to the edge, gripping the root, long like a vine, and tried tugging it, to reel him in. He swam the best his stubby legs would allow, but it wouldn't be enough...

The elk suddenly hooked his antler around the long root- and she tied it there almost automatically, an idea coming to her. The elk gave a wordless nod and backed up, slowly pulling the glyptodon in.

It was amazing how much his teeth were willing to go through. They heaved him onto the block of ice they floated upon, and he smiled almost lazily up at them.

Then, something swooped in as another crack echoed from the shore. The berg gave a sudden jolt as it caused a heavy wave- pushing them further. The roots still keeping them attached where going to snap.

The thing that had swooped in, black and wet, smacked against the floor like a wet leave. The three jumped- and the thing began coughing, blinded by the rain. A bat.

"Its...all breakin' part, y'all..." She fell face-down, and lay still. The elk raised his eyes, eyes wide and glazed, and the rest followed him.

The land that had once been the edge of the continent, a sturdy coast, was almost completely gone. The roots gave an audible_ snap._

They stumbled on their legs as it began floating away. hey watched, in a heavy silence, as the land drew further and further away. The rumbling of the thunder seemed far-off now, and in the distance they could hear the land still cracking apart, and the very faint screams of animals and birds echoing in the dark grey, storming horizon.

The she-rabbit slowly sat down, head bent. The elk lowered his own.

Then, a clawing sound. They all jumped, eyes locked on the side of the berg. A gritty-looking hand had gripped the side of the berg; bluntly clawed and rough. They slowly drew closer; the elk and rabbit first, the bat flying where it was with the glyptodon by its side.

The owner of the hand hoisted itself up, and elbow propped up on the ice- and armadillo, eyes narrowed to slits and his teeth drawn in a snarl of determination, had dragged himself onto the side of the berg. He threw his legs up next, lying on his hands and knees. All the while he scowled, panting, and eyeing the group with a hostile look.

No words passed over them. The berg floated on, till there was nothing but silence, and the continent was nothing but a blur.

The bat coughed quietly nearby, the elk slowly lying down, rested his battered antler-sporting head. The armadillo was now standing whilst the rest were sitting. He stared back the way they came, a scowl on his face.

The rabbit looked around her. She'd never seen these animals in her life; not even a glance as she walked down a path. Yet she felt she knew what was on all of their minds. They shared it; they'd survived. They were alive...

The elk beside her breathed in and out, as if trying to focus on that rather than what happened. She herself wondered why she felt so...quiet and still. Perhaps it hadn't sunk it. It couldn't. It didn't seem real, what she'd just seen...

"Hey..." The elk murmured beside her, watching her with exhausted eyes. She turned to look at him, chewing on a trembling lip. "What's your name...?"

She found it so alien, to have a name...to think of something so normal after seeing everything...end like that. She looked down at the ice. In a soft, trembling voice, she spoke at last.

"Clem...Clementine."

...

The thunder in the distance was their calling.

Drifting though the ice-made mist, silent and eerie, was their ship. Among its smaller counterparts, the berg looked mighty and intimidating. A gull swept in from that distance where the thunder was, and landed in the branches in the mist.

"The rats have left the continent, Mon Cap-i-tan..." A smooth voice slice the silence, "Some have managed to gather on small bergs...bounty a-floating..."

Below, the other members aboard the ship looked up. One smirked mischievously, another in blind happiness. One watched the sunset in the distance where the continent had been worn away but the storm, and one smirked upwards in a crooked squint manner.

"Sounds terrible." A casual, confident voice sounded from above; a thick, bulky figure in the branches above.

"...I love it."

His captain's words, subtle as they where, had made up their minds. The squint-eyed member of the grew leaped up in a flash to the helm to get a better look of the horizon, grinning darkly to himself all the way. He twirled his fish-bone blade in his paw. The sunset looked awfully grey, no colour anywhere in the ocean, or anywhere at all. In the semi-darkness, the pirates shared hungry grins, eyes set ahead on their target.

"This is gonna be good." He murmured to himself, following it up with a cackle. The sun set, giving them their cover, and settling the doom of those who had left the crumbling land.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ze next chapter._

_Please review ^^_

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Going Under

Chapter 2: Closing In.

Now that the panic had worn away, the inevitable came into view. Clementine had been semi-aware that her small, frail body was covered in scars, obtained when she'd fallen from the land and smacked against a few rocks and debris on the way to the cold water. The elk didn't look much better- he'd been hit and bruised, scratched...it looked almost as if someone had clawed at him, and judging by how desperate other animals had been to get past others, it could have been the case.

The group, though strangers and yet to say much to each other, found themselves huddled at the centre of the burg, near each other. Cold, wet, and injured, being around other living creatures was their only comfort. Except for that of the armadillo.

Clementine was sure the armadillo hadn't stopped scowling since he got onto this floating iceberg; she would have thought exhaustion would have gotten to him, but no. He stood at the end of the burg, staring across the stormy horizon with an air of scorn.

Clementine rubbed her trembling arms, more from nerves than cold. Her fur provided little protection against the harsh sea winds, and the way the burg wavered from side to side was making her stomach churn.

Then, she saw the scars again. Hers had stopped bleeding mostly; but it wouldn't be enough. The elk lying behind her wouldn't last long. At least the lunge into the salt water had kept the wounds clean for now, but still...

Clementine stood up slowly, legs trembling, and moved along the flat iceberg. There had to be something she could use, now that she'd lost her things...

Something landed at her feet with a slight thud. Clementine, on natural instinct, froze almost as solid as the burg below her feet- but slowly blinked when she saw what it was.

Her pack. Filled with small herbs, plants and leaves that would otherwise look normal to other creatures, but not to her. The pack itself was strung together out of particularly thick leaves. She looked upon, wondering who had found it...and saw the armadillo eyeing her down.

"If you where lookin' for it, it was stuck to the side of the iceberg. On a root."

That was the first she'd heard him talk. Slowly, her eyes still on the armadillo, Clementine bent down and scooped up her pack.

"...Who are you?" She had an odd feeling that 'thank you' wouldn't be welcomed by that glare of his. His large nose wrinkled and she stepped back, floppy ear twitching uneasily.

He turned away slowly, arms folded. Clementine regarded him with uncertainty before wandering back to the rest of the group huddled nearby. She sat down, and shakily scoped out a few herbs. The elk opened his eyes slowly, watching.

"...What are they...?" He asked in a husky voice, giving a short cough. Clementine spoke with equal quietness; as if breaking the hush around them would trigger another storm.

"Healing herbs...They'll help your wounds..."

Clementine didn't catch the glance the armadillo sent her as she said this. The doe looked upwards, finding no sunlight had broken though the clouds yet. This grey light would have to do.

She ground up the herbs and held them again the elk's wounds- he hissed, but she persisted. His where the worst of all of them, and she had a feeling it was due to how he'd been trying to save others so badly...

Her stomach churned, and she focused on healing them. The female bat had yet to regain consciousness, her wing needing a splint placed on it. Clementine had to use the last of her spare twigs to do so; buried at the bottom of her pack along with thin bits of bark that had been heaved into what she thought was called 'string'.

She moved to the glyptodon, whose feet where a bit battered by the destruction; his face a little scarred. He was the least hurt, thanks to that shell of his. The elk, bat and him were done after what felt like a blur of time...and then Clementine found the only ones still in danger where herself, and the armadillo.

She looked over at him, nibbling her lip. He was standing sturdy; as if he wasn't hurt at all. He had a bad gash across his forehead and his leg suffered as well. How he'd managed to keep swimming in the water was beyond her.

"...Uh...I can help that." She said, quietly. The older mammal turned his head stiffly to once again glower at her.

"Hmph."

A pause.

Clementine heaved a sigh, now. She began working on her own injuries, glancing at the stubborn armadillo now and again. He seemed certain that he didn't need help. Clementine wasn't going to go near him with that look on his mug.

Behind her, the tall elk heaved himself to his hooves, stretching the best he could manage. He then, half-groggy, gazed around them, at the sea, and the endlessness of it. "...Well...wherever we are, we're alive..."

"We?" The armadillo remarked loftily. The elk focused a slight frown at him.

"...Yes...we're all here. We got away."

"Stranded on a blog of ice with no food or water." The armoured mammal turned to face him, with some difficulty as his leg was injured. His arms remained folded. The elk breathed out through his nose, swallowing.

"...It seems bleak...but we mustn't give up like this..." He raised his head, moving along the ship. "There's always a way."

The armadillo snorted. Clementine, now, did her best to ignore him. The elk looked back at her, a small smile forming.

"Thanks, Clementine...whatever it was you...did to help." The rabbit shrugged, her face growing hot beneath her fur. "My name's Kureus."

"Kurues..." Clementine tested the name. Koor-oos. But, once again a sniff of disdain sounded behind her.

"Let's all just be friends, then, on a magically little adventure here on our ice block."

"Like it or not we're stuck together." Kurues said, his patience finally wearing thin through his calm demeanour. The armadillo sneered, though looked as if he was almost giving a kind of sarcastic grin.

"Stuck being the keyword. Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"Everybody can hear what you just said, Dude."

Lounging on her stomach upon the glyptodon's shell was the female bat, her large blue eyes regarding them all with a casual air. She rose a brow at the armadillo, "Chill. You could be swimmin' round with no iceberg to stand on. Or be dead."

The armadillo found himself quite outnumbered in the ranks. Clementine stood up, adjusting her pack to sit by her hip. Kurues seemed to take his silence as the end of the argument and turned away- then spotted something.

"Hmm..."

A tall tree log, with the roots still poking out from its bottom, was floating nearby them. "Wood..." He could see more- branches and the like, floating around. Clementine's eyes widened.

"...Maybe...they could help?" She asked quietly. Kurues's lips twitched up in a slight smile.

"Y-yeah..."

...

The continent had been breaking apart for months now, and every time a bunch of cast-offs where to be found. Like bugs when you move a large rock, they scattered out in panic. Most were trapped on floating bits of tree or ice, grabbing what they could from the remains of fruit trees and plants floating in the water.

That's why they stuck around.

A dagger, sharp and constructed of bone and vine, hit a makeshift target- but missed the centre.

"You lose! I get whatever plums they got!"

A badger hollered with laugher, pointing a clawed finger at the disgruntled rabbit beside him. Squint shoved him away, swiping with his other bone dagger. He caught a bit of his ear, and the badger leaped on him, trying to claw him back.

"Knock it off!"

The two small ragged furballs looked up. Above stood the first mate, oddly well-groomed for a sea-faring tiger. Shira regarded them both with disinterest, "The Captain decides who gets what."

Squint sneered up at her, and not too subtly. Ah well. There was usually always something living coming out of the destruction, and as long as that was a fact, there would be fun. He cackled gently to himself, earning him a frown from Gupta.

"What's so funny?"

He didn't answer, and didn't have to. Gupta's attention was stolen by the horizon. The storm had ended and the grey cloudy skies stretched onward, to where unmistakable shapes had began to float into view. Still very far, but not enough to be out of view.

Squint whipped up to the side of the ship, stroking a finger against his dagger. "I call dibs on whichever of them runs the fastest..."

"I get whicheva bloke has the toughest fur. I nee' a challenge fer once..." Above him, a kangaroo was sharpening her spear with disinterest. Squint wrinkled his nose, and she sniffed at him with disdain.

"Yeah, whatever." He began muttering incoherent words, wandering away from her.

Above, their Captain continued to wait. He kept the ship away from the continent's outskirts, out of sight and out of radios of the storms and tremors that would wear away the coasts. Out here, the far away storms where almost peaceful sounding. He found it relaxing, really. Sometimes nights where far too quiet...

He drew a long claw along his rough, sea-worn palm, flexing agile dexterous fingers. A familiar gull swooped beside his large, bulky shoulder.

"We are getting closer to the remnants, Mon Capitan...the closest seems to have living aboard..." Silas drawled slyly. It had been too far for him to get too close just yet.

The giant ape smirked, bearing yellow, uneven teeth. "Swell, just swell. Keep an eye on the distance between us and our unfortunate friends." He leaned back with an air of calmness. The gull nodded once and took off once again, the pirates below watching him. They where brimming with anticipation, the ape knew. All the more fun when he finally set them loose.

"Are we gonna do the thing again?" Came a jubilant voice from below, innocently dumb. The ape chuckled lowly,

"Why yes, Mr Flynn. We're gonna have ourselves a little party."

"Horaay!" The soft sound of clapping flippers echoed over the restless sea.

* * *

_Oh, Flynn._


	3. Chapter 3

_Still at it ^^_

_I need to make these chapters longer..._

_Enjoy :)_

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Going Under

Chapter 3: Clash of the Icebergs

"Looks kinda dashin'."

The female bat, whom Clementine had come to know as Maut, had perched herself atop the newest and first adjustment to their...ship-thing. The tree they had found floating around was now embedded in the centre of the oval-shaped burg, having been dragged aboard by Kureus and Glett. Glett was the strange noise the turtle-like creature had made, persistently, so they supposed it was his name.

They'd used blocks of ice to hammer the roots of the tree into the burg, then used them as weights to keep it buried there. To their delight, they'd found some fruits still clinging to the branches. It was a hopeful sight, though the fruit was very, very small in amount.

Kurues, whose antlers had once again been tied to the long roots they'd used to save Glett, sat down. Clementine had had to actually swim over and tie the other end of the makeshift ropes to the tree, as the only other person with thumbs seemed determined to stay where he was.

Clementine turned her head back to him. The armadillo's bloodshot eyes were still locked ahead, as if he was looking for something.

"...Uh...what are you looking for?" She dared to ask, rubbing her arm. The group, now sitting near the tree, looked up expectantly as she'd voiced their question, too.

The armadillo scowled over his shoulder at them. "You lot really don't have a clue, do you?"

The female bat sitting atop the tree eyed him disdainfully, "Oh, well, let the all-stubborn armadillo enlighten our souls on his totally superior knowledge." The armadillo in question didn't seem fazed by the sassy remark.

"All right, Limp Lungs..." He slowly began walking around them in a slow, steady semi-circle. In the distanct, thunder rumbled. It made them stiffen.

The armadillo's face was lined and dark, and Clementine found herself unable to look away despite her unease. He eyed her in particular.

"For months the Continent has been breaking apart, wearing away at the coasts. Every time more is worn away, in more amounts. I knew it was only a matter of time before trying to outrun it on land would stop working."

"So you have a plan?" Maut asked shirilly, only to be shushed by the others. The armadillo sneered, but again that hint of a smirk appeared.

"It's not starving or drowning I'm worried about. Nor is it that storm I've been keeping an eye out for."

The group stared at him, slowly realizing what this implication was. Kurues's ears stood on end, Maut's haughty expression wavered. Glett blinked, and Clementine felt her hair stand on end.

"...What else is...out here?"

"We're afloat...surely no sea beast will detect us?" Kurues spoke quietly, as if one of the said creatures would hear him if he spoke louder. The armadillo dropped his arms from their folded place at his chest and laughed shortly, in a curt, humourless fashion.

"Oh, they won't. And even if they did, they're the least of your worries."

"Our worries." Kurues muttered. "If you have some knowledge of danger out here, stop beating around the bush. We have to help each other survive."

"You're not going to survive. None of us are, forever. With your attitude?" He sniffed, turning away, "You'll be dead by tomorrow."

The elk heaved himself back to his unsteady legs, to face off against this stubborn creature who refused to help. "The one who won't survive is _you, _you fool. You refused to have your wounds looked at by Clementine, you didn't help us drag food onto the ship...we have food, our wounds are getting better somehow..."

"You don't even know each other. You just met the rabbit girl." The armadillo sneered, "You can't go trusting any old animal."

Clementine looked between them, eyes wide. She felt uncertain of what to say, but also irked of how they were speaking as if she wasn't there. But...Kurues was standing up for her, and she supposed after helping him he would...but what other reason? He'd dragged her onto this boat to save her, and tried to save others...

In a way, he was trying to save this stubborn armadillo. She hoped the latter wasn't right.

"I'm trustwrothy..." She muttered, eyeing her knees. She couldn't see, but she was sure the armadillo was glaring at her.

Maut coughed from behind them. "Hey, arma-dude. You said something worse is out here. What is it? Spit it out, this ain't no ghost story time."

Kurues looked back to him with a stern nod, "You heard her. Enough of your evading."

The armadillo snorted. "Fine, Oh Fearless Leader. There are Pirates out here."

Their stern looks melted into alarm, and disbelief. Clementine blinked. "...Pirates?" She repeated dumbly.

"Pirates. " He regarded their confused stares and sighed, slowly.

"I said for months the continent's been falling apart. The rubble is floating out to see, as is food, wood...fresh meat..." He eyed the elk, who stiffened, "All left for the taking now that it's not on land. Some wise guys decided that instead of fighting on land for it, they'd swipe it at sea where anyone who survived couldn't possibly navigate their way home or defend themselves. They took advantage of nature's giant "to heck with you" idea."

"Months..." Kurues murmured, "How would you know this?"

The armadillo shrugged loosely, "I saw them the last time the continent went tumbling. They came real close that time. I saw them, waiting."

"Waiting? So like...they know there's gonna be guys like us stuck on ice bergs?" Maut said, rubbing her head.

"Yeah. And like any trap, they're gonna be prepared. They know the destruction would leave any still living thing totally defenceless." The armadillo walked to the tree, giving it a critical sort of kick, "I'll give you one thing, most probably wouldn't think to gather food while still close to land or modify the ice they're on. I saw guys floating out that had nothing."

"They let the earthquakes render animals defenceless, then attack." Kurues summed up, scowling, "What a scummy thing to do."

Clementine felt his chest tighten. Pirates, waiting, with weapons by the sound of it- they'd be waiting to tear them apart. "...W-e don't have anything..."

There was a loud snapping noise. The armadillo had just pulled a half-broken branch from the tree, and snapped off the blunt end into a sharp point. "...We will. The log was a good idea, Elk."

Kurues seemed to give an odd smile, calm. Clementine tried not to grin. Had the stubborn armadillo finally let up a little?

"Don't get your hopes up."

The armadillo tossed the sharp branch to Clementine- she squeaked, stumbling backwards as she tried to catch it. He continued in his blunt voice,

"We still don't have much. They'll find us. And most of us are gonna die."

"You seem pretty sure that you won't be part of that 'most'." Kurues said slowly. The armadillo glared at him once again, hands on his hips.

He looked at the group. They looked back. Clementine wrung her paws fretfully before her. Then, the armadillo sighed slowly through his nose.

"All right. Here's what we're gonna do..." He moved to the tree embedded in the ice. "We'll use the branches to make spears, some of them we're gonna put into the sides of the ship and attach them to those long roots you guys where using..."

"Oooh, spiky edges, dude..."

"...Can I finish? Thanks. Now this is important. The current decides where we go, I guess, but maybe we can choose which current. We have to find a way to direct the ship the way we want it to go..."

Clementine, as much as she had began to dislike the sour, intimidating armadillo, felt something lift in her chest. Maybe because she seemed to know what he was doing...

...

Raz watched the horizon with a small frown. The thunder had started up again, not nearly as bad as before, but the weather wasn't looking too good. The waters where getting more restless and the sky was dimming even further, as if forgetting it was early afternoon rather than evening. She adjusted her weight on her spear.

"Cap'in. The storm migh' make it hard for us ta get close." And remain close; the waves didn't look cooperative. There was a snort from above,

"That's the point. The fog'll fall soon, with this weather. They'll never see us coming..." Raz rose a brow to herself.

"Hm..." The thunder rolled back towards them. She idly wondered how those trapped on the iceblocks felt like, hearing that. She'd grown used to it, expecting it, but they would probably think another content-crumbling storm was on the way.

"They'll panic." She remarked, as Shira came to stand beside her, eyeing the waters with her typical dignified posture. "It'll make 'em easier to pick off."

"It always does." Shira replied, not looking at her. Raz looked at her quizzically.

"You seem ta b e gettin' bored."

Shira gave a faint sort of grin, "Just saving the enthusiasm."

Raz rolled her eyes, "Ya need to loosen up sometimes. We're pirates, we ain't some regulated pack. Have some fun with this, add some spice to it." She grinned with her pointed teeth,

"'Ow bout you an' me have a bet?" Shira turned her head, and Raz saw with small triumph that there was a hungry spark in her eye.

"What's the stakes?"

"The biggest challenge, whichever one of them has the toughest hide." Raz said, fiddling with the point of her spear, ignoring the sound of Squint cackling and Gupta yelling somewhere behind them, "Whoever manages to cut 'um first, gets ta take 'em down."

Shira rose a brow, "I'll be quicker than you."

"Not wit' these feet." Raz was grinning widely now, "So it's on?"

Shira smirked back, "It's on all right."

Something swooped between them, making them jump- not from fright, but from alarm. Raz held up her spear instantly, only to sneer when she saw Silas flashing a sly grin back at them as he swooped upwards to the branches. "Annoyin' Blighter."

All the crew looked up, however, to hear the results. Gutt watched as Silas landed before him, where he sat quietly sharpening a blade. The gull's eyes where narrowed to slimy slits,

"They are near now, Mon Capitan. I could not get too close, but the mist vill soon allow me to see just how many there are. I did hear a lot-of...chatterrr..."

"Are they scared?" The Captain drawled slowly, grinning in a smooth manner, "Running around in terror and crying like cubs?"

Silas's own smile faded, "No, Mon Capi-tan...they seem to be...ordering each other."

Gutt's eyes narrowed, not in anger, but perhaps in interest, "Some backbone, huh...? This could be worthwhile...keep an eye on them. I wanna know if any of them could be useful."


	4. Chapter 4

_I'll be going away for a few days thus be quite preoccupied, so here's a gian chapter. Only one person is reading this XD_

_Enjoy._

* * *

Going Under

Chapter 4: Ice Price Slice

The lightning and thunder danced above their heads. Clementine gripped the roots the best she could possibly muster, as the rain poured down. The darkness had fallen, but she knew it wasn't night. She could handle the night, not this.

She remembered the terror she'd felt during the crumbling of the continent, and it was back. She could barely hold onto the roots much longer, she was shaking that bad and her chest heaving so much.

_This isn't going to work. We're not going to make it._

"Hold onph!" Kurues cried, though it was hard for him. He was holding onto another vine-like root with his teeth, pulling at it- standing on her left. They were doing the best they could to keep the ship doing the way they wished. The armadillo, who had still not told them his name, and done something he wouldn't explain. But whatever it was, it made the ship move in the way they wished...somewhat.

The basics where that a steering bar had been stuck at one end of the ship, the bulkiest, while the pointed end was opposite it. The armadillo had even hacked off some ice to make it more pointier. Clementine and the others found themselves doing what he said, though Kurues liked undermining some of the more confusing ones.

"We 'eed to stay in the middleph of the iceberg, or 'e'll fall off!" He called, holding onto the root. The root that he held in his mouth was tied to the steering bar, another being held by Clementine and the armadillo to balance it out. It was the only way to control it, as the people with paws able to grasp it weren't strong enough to do it on their own. And...Kurues had no hands.

"We have to get out of the storm!" The armadillo bellowed back over the sound of waves hitting the sides of their ship, "Otherwise we WILL fall off!"

"I don't think this ship's goin' where ya want it, Arma-dude!" Maut called, gripping the tree with all she had to avoid being flung off. Glett was holding onto the tree with his teeth like Kurues was the root, only it looked even less comfortable.

Clementine coughed, the salty water stinging her eyes. "Stop arguing! "

The armadillo rolled his eyes, tugging on the root, "It's your antlered pain-in-the rear friend who won't follow my movements!"

"The ship's be-ing pulled by the current, no' us!" Kurues said through his teeth.

_Snap._

The roots snapped, and the wooden rod embedded in the ice broke with it. The long roots whipped back, slapping into Kurues and the armadillo- Kurues stumbled, but the armadillo suffered worse. Clementine's mouth gaped as she saw him fly off the back of the ship- and disappear into the dark, trembling waves. She knelt there, for a second, three seconds- and saw him lurch out from under the surface, gasping. His leg was still injured...he wouldn't make it.

_"Clementine!"_

Clementine found herself flying. No, not flying. Falling right into the water, slapping into the cold and her air being cut off. She barely had time to hold her breath, and kicked upwards instantly.

_I'm insane, I'm insane, But I need to get to him..._

Clementine swam as much as her sore body would allow. She kicked and clawed at the water, trying to find him- then her paw came into contact with something hard. Probably his head.

She seized his shoulder, and began struggling back...but all of her energy had been used up getting to him. She gasped, going under, then resurfaced, spitting out cold water. The armadillo had clearly hit his head going over, his groggy eyes looked at her as if he'd never seen her.

Something clamped onto her ear and she squeaked. It was Maut, Maut with her wing still broken and her face contorted in a scowl of effort. Her feet and good wing where clinging to Clementine's ear, and around her stomach Clementine saw the root...

She raised her head. The two long roots had been tied together, then to Maut, and she'd used herself as a living hook to reel them in. Glett and Kurues used their teeth to hold onto it, tugging.

Clementine breathed out, feeling an odd warmth inside her as she and the armadillo where tugged back to the ship by her ear. She ignored the pain, and with her free paw she grasped the side of the ship to pull herself back up. They dragged the armadillo back on with her.

A few moments passed. They gasped and heaved, nothing but raspy breathes filling the air. Clementine turned her head where she lay to look at the armadillo, his eyes foggy but awake again, as he looked back. On his knees, he spoke in a husky, blank voice.

"Why would you save me...?" He asked, his tone almost bitter. Clementine breathed in.

"...You helped us...didn't you...?" The rabbit coughed a little. She rested her head against the solid ice, and felt something lean against her head.

"Hey. Hey. Where's my Thank ya?"

The sassy remark was far too energetic for Clementine, but she opened her eyes. Maut grinned down at her, clearly exhausted, but grinning all the same. Clementine couldn't help but feel her own smile flicker.

"...Th-thanks...that was pretty crazy."

"Giiiirl, Crazy's the new thing. And you can talk, you just looked like ya wanted to win a diving into stormy sea competition..." She leaned on her head, breathing out through her chortles.

The armadillo had stood once more, limping to the side of the ship and peering at the water. Clementine and the others watched him. Slowly, he raised his head, and sighed.

"...Name's Argeth." He muttered, head turned a little to them. His voice was quiet, almost a mumble.

Clementine supposed that was 'thank you' in his own way.

_Crack._

Argeth's eyes had frozen on the berg. Not because of the lightning, but when the light flashed, bathing them in brightness, he'd seen something on the ground, a distinctive shape. His head jerked up suddenly, so suddenly that everyone else looked, too.

A gull was flying above them, now that the rain had cleared. It circled back and flew off just as they looked up.

"...A bird? This far out?" Maut mumbled quietly, watching him go. Argeth's eyes where wide and hard.

"He was watching us..."

Kurues stiffened. "...A scout?"

"Sc-cout...?" Clementine whispered. They sat there, the ship waving from side to side on the trembling waves. She could smell dampness. Argeth slowly bent, and scooped up one of the spears they'd made.

Clementine and Maut, lying where they were, stared in the direction the bird had gone. He'd vanished into a deep mist, a fog drifting not too far from here. It would engulf them soon.

Kurues swallowed. "...Argeth...do you think?"

"I know..." Argeth muttered quietly. "...We can't outrun them."

Clementine turned her head to look at him. The silence was so heavy, so thick, she could almost feel it on her whiskers. She lifted her floppy ears, and listened.

A soft clicking noise...

_clamp._

A skull landed in front of her; bone cleaned off by sand and constant wave battering, but still stained with something red-brown within its cracks. She squealed, recoiling and scrambling back. Another skull, large and sharp-toothed, hit another part of their ship.

Argeth stumbled forward and began hacking at the vine attached to the skull, huffing. Kurues went to the other, trying to pry off the skull with his antlers, but neither attempt worked.

"...They're going to reel us in." Clementine whispered. Her breaths quickened.

Argeth snarled and stepped back, breathing in, "All right, this is gonna get messy..."

"We're gonna fight?" Maut yelped frombeside Clementine's ear. She'd settled herself on her shoulder. Clementine's knees trembled.

"Looks like it." Argeth said, eyebrows raised simply. Glett gave a fierce sneer, holding a pointed stick in between his teeth. Clementine blinked at him. That wasn't much...

The burg they stood on gave a sudden jerk, and sent them stumbling. Clementine's ears flew up.

Laughter. Whispers.

"There's animals...I can hear them...!" She whispered. Kurues stared ahead at the fog,

"What're they saying...?" He whispered back. Clementine's ears strained.

"Laughter..."

A sharp, ice-made point drew from the fog, it first as small as her paw, then growing more clear. It was attached to a much bigger, pointed block, very, very high up. A giant iceberg in the shape of their own ship, slid from the fog, towering above them like a mountain. In the mist and the dim, stormy light, Clementine saw it as frightening as a live monster.

The lightning flashed once more, and her eyes fluttered. But she'd seen the outlines of various uneven shapes, looking down at them. Figures.

The clamps tugged them closer and they hit against the side of the giant ship, and Clementine and Maut found themselves clinging to each other, Maut's eyes wide and head lent back in what would otherwise comical look, if this hadn't been the situation.

Then, those figures leaped into view, along the sides of the ship above, leering down at them. Clementine saw a kangaroo with raggedy fur meet her eye, but looked away when she smirked; then a boar, a badger with a snide grin, a tiger-

_A tiger._

Her heart sprung and the group tensed. A predator- they could be the next meal...

Clementine heard Argeth growl and saw what he saw: The gull from before, who had clearly pointed them out. He was smiling down at them in the slimiest way possible, and Clementine felt a rare spark of hate flutter in her chest.

"Look at all the fluffy people!" A jubilant voice exclaimed. Maut gave a loud 'eh?' sound, peering up at an elephant wale that was peering back as if they were a bunch of pretty flowers. The rest, however, looked hungry, and very, very excited.

_"The elk."_ The kangaroo hissed to the Tiger- Clementine's ears sprang up when hearing it. Kurues hadn't heard it, but now the two female pirates where eyeing him, the largest member of their little gang.

Kurues retained his stiff posture, though wariness flickered in his auburn eyes. Clementine admired his courage, she was trembling uncontrollably. The two groups stood staring at each other, studying, for what felt like decades of having pirates eye you up as if you where pieces of meat or fruit rather than living beings. Targets. Clementine felt sick, feeling exposed.

Something else suddenly jumped into view, up on the ice railing of the ship high above them. Clementine's mind reeled. She would have thought it was some kind of rabid weasel or something, but despite the ragged fur and conniving expression she saw it was, in fact...a rabbit. She'd never seen a rabbit with such a look, maddened.

He was a buck, grey and with ruffled sea-beaten fur, and ears that where wonky and crooked, much like his face, that seemed to be bulled in a permanent squint. Crooked was the best way to describe all of their looks, but he seemed to be doing his best to out-crook them all.

And she'd surely not seen another rabbit with a knife. He was twirling it in his paw, looking over all of their group like a hyper child who had found delicious sweats, wondering which one to pick off first. He glanced over them all quickly, and cackled at them, until his eyes landed on her.

Clementine felt her breathing stop as he seemed to pause in his accelerated study of their prey. He seemed surprised, perhaps forgetting what a normal rabbit looked like, or perhaps just forgetting what things like 'small, quiet and timid' meant when being a pirate, everything was opposite that.

Then, he gave a crooked smile and spun his blade in his hand, "I get this one."

_What?!_

Argeth stepped in front of her. Clementine's view of the rabbit, and he her, was blocked by his head and shoulders. Argeth said nothing, but his sneer was enough. The buck blinked.

The pirates gave a stifled sort of snort, perhaps laughter mixed with something else. Clementine saw the kangaroo roll her eyes, shaking her head whilst doing it. "Cut it, Squint, before Shira tells ya off again."

Suddenly the buck in question was pushed out the way, and out of sight, by the paw of the Saber-toothed tiger. She had not cackled, grinned or sneered, but retained a dignified posture- much like Kurues, but without being nervous.

"Wait for the Captain's orders."

"Captian...?" Kurues murmured, quietly. Argeth looked further up, straining his neck. Clementine followed his eyes.

"Ahoy, down there..."

A loud, sturdy voice called to them through the fog. Above, in the branches of the trees embedded in the pirate ship, was the bulky outline of a very, very large creature. Not bigger than the seal, but clearly more formidable. Clementine stared. Large shoulders, hanging from branches.

...A giant ape.

The ape swung with strange agility for such a large body, along the branches. "You know, they say these parts are filled with pirates...you're probably relieved knowing you ran into us instead!"

The oily tone wasn't hard to miss. The group, sans Argeth of course, cringed.

The ape swung into view. Big, and with thick hair that fell over his chin in a beard and stood up on his head like a kind of hat. He landed with a grunt onto the large branch sticking out from the side of the berg, and the group saw a pair of sharp, lengthy claws stretching from his strong fingers. He slid on a pleasant smile and held one of those hands out to them, almost as if offering help. They drew back, even if it was too far for the claws to reach them.

"Captain Gutt, At your Service."

Clementine couldn't place it, but there was just something so unsettling about his tone.

Kurues swallowed, and lifted a hoof and placed it back down, perhaps trying to managed a firm action, but deciding better. "...All right. I'm Kurues, we're just trying to find land. We don't want any kind of hostility, or confrontation of any manner."

What did 'e say?" The elephant seal mumbled. Gutt snorted, leaning back against the side of his ship, "Well! It seems we've got a bit of a smarty in our midst!" He gestured to the side with his elbow, as if nudging, and the pirates fell into a fit of mean-spirited cackles. Kurues looked affronted.

"Smarts can be useful if they don't end at your vocab, Hoof boy." The ape said, admiring his own claws, though his eyes appeared to be set on the elk, and his large antlers, "What else you got to make me take you seriously?"

"How about a brain."

Argeth's voice, sharp, sturdy and as sarcastic as can be, rang out through the air. The pirates stopped their chortles and the surviving group went still. The ape chuckled, not yet having looked to the armadillo, fiddling with his claws.

"You got nerves...I like that." He turned his head then, grinning lazily...then his eyes opened wider, and his smile faded slowly. The giant ape had gone still, too, gaze locked with the armadillo below.

Argeth bore his teeth in a snarl, gripping the sharp branch in his hands all the tighter. The ape stood, no longer lounging, and sneering back, bearing a set of large uneven teeth. Clementine's eyes widened.

The chatter game was over.

"You won't be getting back to your continent. Because you know what? You and your ship belongs to _me." _Through his fury, that was clear on his face, the primate smirked down at them and the pirates seemed to lean in.

He leaped from the side of the ship and onto the branch, swinging up on top of it- and raised his long arm,

_"Battle stations! Bring their ship down!"_

"ARGH!"

Kurues turned, "Quick! Take cover!"

Clementine squealed and turned to move back, away from the giant ship as much as possible, when something hit it like a bolt of lightning. The ground beneath the group jolted, knocking them off their feet. A large ball of ice had been thrown down on them- and more where coming.

"Look out!"

Kurues's yelp was enough to make Clementine and Maut leap from where they stood- and another block of ice hit the spot, sending a cracking sound ringing through the air.

Clementine, with the bat clinging to her ear, leaped to her feet and let her panicked instincts take over, sprinting off to avoid being hit.

A dagger was thrown through the air, and Argeth leaped, hitting it aside with his spear and spinning through the air. Maut gave an admiring whoop,

"Go Argy, you the man, Go Argy!"

Kurues had seen the dagger, and his eyes widened, "The dagger! Cut the vines!"

Clementine turned her head, and saw it lying nearby. Her nerves making her tremble, she ran towards it, on all fours, whipping past the blocks of ice being thrown at them from above.

A unison of growls came from above. The pirates had swung down from vines, and landed on their small ship. The kangeroo landed in a low crouch, wielding a spear made of wood and a sharpened shell. She slammed it down in front of Clementine, blocking her path,

"Ain't no way you're escaping, Quick Legs." She jeered, jabbing at her with the pointed weapon. Clementine staggered back, squeaking. Maut hissed at the tall marsupial,

"Get outa the way!"

_Whack._

Clementine stared, horrified. Maut had been hit away from her shoulder with the spear, and she saw her black, small form fly from her shoulder and land somewhere out of sight.

A roar made her stomach leap- just like Kurues, who had jumped into her line of sight, grounding his hooves into the ice as he faced the sabre. The pale-furred tiger gave the faintest of smirks, and lowered her body as if to pounce.

Kurues charged, antlers at the ready. The tiger leaped out of the way and sank her teeth into the nape of his neck. Clementine found herself screaming, seeing the teeth pierce his tidy fur. Kurues was not finished. He turned his body and hit the tiger onto the ground, the hit being enough to make her let go. She clearly hadn't expected him putting up a fight.

Then, out of the blue, Glett came charging, or rather sliding, along the ice, his sturdy shell hitting the feline's side when she tried to get up. Clementine turned her head away, her mind razing.

_Find the knife, cut he vines._

Clementine raced under the kangeroo's large feet- she had been distracted by Kurues fighting the tiger, and made for the knife. Argeth was tussling with the badger, blocking his dagger swipes.

"Ha-ha-ha!"

The buck whipped in front of Clementine.

The doe stepped back, her breathing having halted. Her eyes widened. The male rabbit only seemed provoked by this, his insane grin widening all the more, "You're a pretty fast runner, Girly...I like that."

He gave his wrist a flick, and he was then holding a whole batch of sharp shells, blades and stones. He held them like one would a fan. Clementine screamed out loud and turned, sprinting away. She heard the sharp objects hitting the ice just where her ankle had been, and following. She leaped to the side to avoid the rest, but he jumped back in front of her, blocking her path. She turned again, only to have him repeat it. He got closer every time, and the third time he leaped at her instead of just blocking her way.

Clementine felt herself being slammed onto the ground. Her mind in a frenzy, she kicked to try and get the pirate off her, his knife held too close to her face. "_HELP ME! Argeth_!"

The other rabbit had pinned her to the ground, she being too weak to fight him off, and he grabbed her ear and held his knife under her neck. Clementine reached with a trembling paw, to just anyone at all.

She saw Argeth, kicking away the badger at last, and how his eyes widened upon seeing her. He raced forward, sharpened branch held up.

The tiger leaped in front of him, and swiped. Argeth's face was hit, and he fell face-down, limp. Kurues yelled and Clementine found she could not longer breath. She coughed, her chest aching with effort after all the running.

Kurues was bleeding from the back of the neck, and panting, surrounded by the blades of the seal, the kangaroo. Glett was at his side, facing the point of the badger's blade. Maut lay unconscious nearby, like a dark rag against the ice.

"Not fast enough, girly..." The buck said slowly from above. She felt her head flop against the ice, exhausted, and defeated. She didn't look over her shoulder at him, his blade now twirling in his hat, his grip on her ear still tight.

The last thing she remembered was Kurues giving a yelp of pain, and the ape laughing raucously from above.


	5. Chapter 5

_I've had a very exhausting trip all week, and have spent 12 hours traveling. I'm officially exhausted so the next chapter won't be tommorow that's for sure. I was having so many different ideas and scenarios, though, for this fandom and these characters...I continued writing the rest of this chapter. So many ideas that are too late to put into this one, but still..._

_Hope you enjoy ^^_

* * *

Going Under

Chapter 5

The thunder broke, and Clementine was jerked from oblivious. The first thing her eyes saw when they snapped so suddenly open, was the darkened, stormy sea, the rippling waves and endless greyness, and the second thing she sensed was the coldness beneath her, the pain in her limbs, and the panic that hadn't been put out even after losing consciousness. She became aware, in horror, that she was being dragged by the foot along the ice, like she was already a dead skin and nothing more. Clementine forced her head up and saw the same vile buck that had tackled her was facing forward and pulling her along behind him, gaze set ahead.

She didn't need to see his face to tell he was delighted, as she heard his cackling lowly to himself. The other pirates came into her view as she turned her head; and she became aware that she was being dragged along an unfamiliar surface- a very vast one. She wasn't on the boat anymore, and she could see giant trees hovering above, facing each other, effectively putting their tiny fruit tree to shame.

_She was on the pirate ship._

Clementine gave a sort grunt and kicked her leg; The grey buck's head snapped around and his exaggerated look of aggravation snapped onto his face with it. Clementine knew she had but a split second that he would remain still with surprise, and leap in the opposite direction, kicking off with her hind-legs and sprinting.

It was then that she realized she had nowhere to go.

The tall purple-furred marsupial spotted her instantly and branded her spear towards her. Clementine leaped, using it to kick off higher, onto her shoulder, then behind her. The doe's heart raced, and she knew this burst of energy would fade, quickly.

A battle-cry rang out behind her- the male rabbit had given chase. A dagger hit the ice beside her where she landed, and Clementine recoiled to the left.

She ran ahead once more, not looking back or to the side- and regretted it. The tiger pounced and landed right in front of her, eyes staring down with venom.

Clementine found her body stiff and frozen, and she momentarily forgot about the crazy buck sneaking up behind her.

"Nice try, girlie..."

The blade was at her throat, and he was right beside her, too close for decency or comfort, his cheek against hers as he stood behind. Clementine stiffened like the ice she stood un, grimacing. Her stomach churned in disgust. She hated how close he was, close enough to hear his fast yet steady heartbeat compared to her own's frantic hammering. It made her skin crawl horribly, while he seemed to enjoy her it.

Something crossed her mind, and she felt that horror increase like chucking wood into a fire. She tried to push it away, but it stuck there, a horrible idea of what he perhaps wanted.

"G-get away..." She forced a whisper from her lungs. She screwed her eyes shut and whimpered as the blade came closer. The buck, having a merry old time, giggled madly, pressing it against her soft cream pelt even more.

"And here I thought the energy was spent."

Clementine didn't dare open her eyes, but she knew who it was. The Captain. She heard his voice, but couldn't hear that of any of the others.

The sound of him knuckle-walking past her, a giant compared to her small frame, made her shake even more. The other rabbit laughed huskily at her expense.

Something grabbed her, tight and rough, and horribly alive. Clementine forced her eyes to open by an inch, and saw the ape's horrible face leering down at her; his skull almost as long as she was. He sneered,

"Your fast little feet are going-to-be the end of you..." His voice was soft, his breath horrible and heated. Clementine screwed her eyes back shut, stiff.

She was tossed, like a skipping stone, from his hand. She fell flat onto her stomach, her body slapping hurtfully against the ground. Clementine weakly tried to get onto her paws and knees- but a foot slammed down on her back, pushing her back onto her stomach.

"Knock it off, Squint," An accented, female voice called. Clementine's vision was hazy, head flopped. "She's 'add enuff."

"Oi, I called dibs on this one!"

Clementine coughed once, and slipped back into oblivion, idly wondering why she hadn't been dealt away with already.

...

Kurues heard odd music; cheerily, yet uneven. He didn't hear music much; sometimes the animals down at the village in the valley he'd once lived had played...that is, when the valley hadn't been split in two...

The shudder of horror evoked from that memory re-started his nerves, and kicked his mind back into life. He opened his eyes, and looked around.

Ice. Sharp objects, stacked fruit...a giant tree reaching for the heavens; vines and modified equipment attached to it. The Pirate Ship was well-built, and sturdy and exact, the vines pulled taught and the trees embedded deep. It didn't look like it would budge.

The pirates themselves were around him. He blinked, noticing them one by one. The kangaroo was fiddling with many different weapons, and from her pouch he could see others poking out...he'd heard of such creatures, he found it eerie how something designed to protect innocent babes was being used to hide deadly weapons beneath her fur.

A badger was playing a flute, innocently enough...until Kurues noticed it was unmistakably made of bone. He prayed it hadn't belonged to someone who had previous been in his position. The Tiger- his prey instincts leaped in fear- was lounging haughtily on a wooden raft sat nearby, watching the music with only mild interest. The gull, hog and ape were nowhere in sight...

There was also a bunch of skulls, polished to an eerie shine, stacked neatly upon separate stands made out of wood. They were positioned together, like a display... and Kurues saw, around the ship's surface, was more. A ribcage lay at the side, used as some kind of basket to house a bunch of rolled up vines.

_Urgh..._

Kurues moved his head, which felt heavier than boulders, to look around. Glett was lying nearby; tethered to the ice with vines attached to hooks...which were nailed down into the ice. He saw a small black being dangling from a vine above, swinging slightly...Maut...upside down, from only one leg.

_Argeth..._

_He couldn't see him_. Kurues blinked, trying to focus. _Clementine, Argeth..._

_Clementine...that crazy buck..._

"Clem...?"

"Rise and _shine."_

The voice was directly above him. Kurues lifted his head upwards, so fast it spun inwardly. The Ape, bulky yet agile, was attached...that was the best word for it, attached, to the tree he was tied to. He stood as if his hands where made of glue, it seemed that easy. He leaped down, landing with a heavy thud in front of him. Kurues found himself staring dumbly.

The clawed hand was suddenly close. Gutt lifted a finger and poked him on his lean forehead. Kurues did his best not to cringe.

"We were just discussing who would be the most suitable candidates among you..." He spoke casually, as if pointing a deadly claw at someone's head was as polite as offering them directions. Kurues swallowed,

"C-Candidates...?"

Gutt chuckled. It made Kurues feel ill. He hated the act he was putting up; it was obvious he wasn't a guest, tied here to a tree with a bite out of his shoulder...

Now that he remembered, the pain was returning. His shoulder was pulsing with burning pain, the teeth haven bitten deeper than he'd realized. He breathed in.

Gutt continued, examine the sharp claws poking out from his other hand, "In other words, which one of you land lubbers is fit enough to make it into the crew."

Kurues stared at him incredulously, "...Make it in...what makes you think any of us would ever wish to join your- your...crew?" What nerve, after attacking them in such a way-

The claws where right in front of his eyes in seconds, gleaming and sharp. Kurues's muzzle shut quickly. The ape gave a sneer-like smile, chuckling raucously.

"So much for that nerve..."

Kurues scowled as the ape pulled his sharp claws away and strode off on his knuckles. The elk pulled against his bonds- and heard something, or rather someone, gag slightly from behind him. His eyes widened. Someone else was tied on the other side of the tree; and he had a good idea of whom.

"Argeth...?" He hissed.

"Rise and shine, Twinkle Hooves..." The armadillo hissed back, sounding annoyed, but not scared. Kurues was sure he hadn't seen the bones the pirates had _decorated _their ship with, and used as _musical instruments. _The thunder rolled in the distance, looming as if to watch their fate.

The ape moved around the trunk slowly, to come to face Argeth. Kurues did not notice that the music had stopped, straining his neck to try and see, but failing.

"Lemme guess..one of you two is the leader of this _adorable _little band here." Gutt remarked in lofty yet patronizing tone. The pirates chortled like a crooked echo. Kurues took the time they had taken their attention away from him to try to nibble at the vines holding him to the tree.

"Well It's not me." Argeth sneered from behind.

Kurues saw yet another sharp object appear in front of him- a shell, sharp and pointed. He raised his head, stopping his nibbling, and saw the female kangaroo was right in front of him, brandishing her blade right by his nose. He swallowed,

"...Why are you doing this?" He found himself muttering. Something faint stirred behind her narrowed eyes, and her nose wrinkled,

"Don' play tha' sympathy game with me. I ain't got none to spare for ye lot."

"Where's Clementine?" Kurues found himself blurting out, but she didn't answer, hopping around to join Gutt. He and the other pirates where all facing Argeth now, grinning hungrily, knowing that this armadillo could be the very first kill of the day.

Said armadillo eyed Gutt, eyes narrowed. "What makes you think any of these idiots will join you?"

"Fair question." Gutt examined his claws once more, "Care to give me a little introduction to them?"

"Not unless you're planning on hearing how much they won't buy your little scheme..."

Kurues frowned, slowly. He seemed too familiar with all of this, and Gutt vice versa. Gutt seemed confident, though, and even appeared to be enjoying himself...yet, something darker was beneath his already dark tone. Argeth had made him angry. Yet Argeth hadn't even put up the biggest fight- well, he did,but nothing too special thus not the largest hindrance to their plans...

Kurues heard something hissing at him, and raised his head. Maut had awakened, and was gesturing with her still working wing to something, eyes wide. Kurues turned his long face quickly, and gaped.

The crazed buck they'd felt slicing at their ankles was dragging a familiar, small frail ball of fawn fur by the arm to the side of the ship, only to dump her there like a rag. Clementine lay still, as if dead...and Kurues felt something heavy in his chest.

"No..." He found himself whispering.

"Yes." Gutt was beside him. He turned his head, brown eyes wide and bulging, as the ape threw a heavy and muscled arm around his injured shoulder. He yelped in pain, but not loud. He hated this casualness the ape had, yet how he could go from furious and deadly to relaxed within seconds...it was unnerving to say in the least. "See, this is what happens to deadweights. They just give up. Animals like her are _failures. _Nature weeds them out anyway, might as well help it along." He was grinning, but Kurues could see disdain on his face, as clear as day. His shoulder stinging with pain, he forced a glare,

"You're wrong. Clementine saved us all, she's stronger than all of your ragged thugs combined and multiplied!"

The pirates's jaws fell open; the badger ducked behind his skulls and the gull glanced away. The kangaroo looked affronted, the tiger angered, the rabbit infuriated, and the elephant seal pulled his own gums in horror.

Gutt's clawed hands dug deep into the wood above Kurues's head, showering his eyes with splinters and flakes. The elk shook them away, and trembled. The giant primate towered over him, close and menacing.

A pair of dark eyes were thrust right up to his. Kurues cringed.

"There is no_ 'us all' _for you anymore." He said, his voice dangerously low. He jerked his head to the side,

"First Mate! Prepare the Plank- It's about time we jettison these liabilities." He eyed down the elk as he said this, moving away. Kurues panicked,

"Jettison...?"

"Aye, sir. Prepare the plank!"

The phrase was echoed by the other pirates, whose smirks widened, cruel and merciless, in response to the elk's horrified face. Argeth had gone quiet, and Maut petrified. They watched, helpless, as Glett was grabbed by his barely exposed neck. The kangaroo had done this, dragging him along towards the plank. It however over the churning, bitter cold sea below. The elephant seal clapped his flippers in anticipation. Glett's feet scuffled against the ice as the marsupial pulled him closer and closer to his own demise, then shoved him forward onto the plank. Kurues's eyes buldged.

"You can't do this!"

"Oh yes I can." Gutt remarked simply, bearing that ugly, uneven grin at him once more. Kurues felt his heard pounding, mind racing. There had to be something, something-

A cry rang through the air, a messed up mixture of uncertainty, anger and fear. Something blazing red flew from the other side of the ship and smacked against Gutt's eyes, burning his eyelids and singing his brow. The pirates, seeing their leader hit, gaped in horror this time. The rabbit buck spun around, blade out in maddened fury to find who had hit his captain- and both he and the kangaroo stared when they saw a fawn ball of fur leap up onto a larger block of ice to tower above them.

Clementine stood, holding a club-like branch of wood, that she had set on fire. Its bulky end was coated in ash, and in her other paw sat her herb bowl...only instead of healing herbs, it was filled with blazing ash, sending off fumes caused by the burning herbs. She was trembling from both terror, the effort of holding the branch, and nerves.

Kurues had never seen anything so awesome, and so madly unusual, that he grinned.


	6. Chapter 6

_This is where the story gets more violent, and differs from Pirates and Survivors. No longer is it cat and mouse, villain and victim...but rivals._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 6

The Noble Elk

The cinders tumbled through the air like rainfall; littering the dumbstruck pirates in burning ash. Gutt received the worst of it but Raz and Squint were handed the rest; they reeled back, fur burning, their faces singed. It wasn't bad, but it hurt.

The fawn-coloured doe used the element of surprise to the fullest. Raz, rubbing the boiling ash from her eyes, saw her leap towards the vines binding the armadillo and elk. Gutt's howl of pain and fury had ended, and he too was trying to rub the ashes from his eyes; little did he know the ash that had been flung at him was made from a particular herb that only increased the sting.

Blinded, the Captain swung an unsteady but threatening arm at his crew, "_Don't just stand there_!"

Shira bellowed a fierce roar and leaped over Raz and Squint, then being incapacitated for the time being. She lunged at the rabbit doe, claws outstretched and teeth barred, ready for the kill, the elk practically screamed in horror-

_Snap._

The doe's burning club had severed the vines, and the elk was freed. As the tiger came soaring to him, claws glinting in the firelight, he kicked off the cold ground and bucked his head, his antlers catching the tiger in a painful hold and tossing her to the side. The pirates gaped as the pale-coloured feline was thrown aside and smacked against the wall of the ship, sliding down. The elk stamped his hooves down, his eyes sparking with newfound confidence.

Gupta and Silas blinked in uncertainty, perplexed on what to do- the Elk was far too big for them to handle, and he'd smacked Shira aside. Luck, maybe. Gupta decided to try his own and scuttled forward, Silas diving down through the air at the rabbit doe.

Dobson charged forward, giving a loud twisted snort, and rammed into the elk's side, knocking him off balance as the badger leaped onto his antlers, cackling unevenly,

"Getty-up, Hoof-Dude!" He called, pulling them back, jerking the elk's head back with it in a painful tug. The elk gave a yowl of pain, and Silas felt control slide back to the crew. He eyed the deck for a target and spotted the doe trying to free the bat from where she was hanging. With a smooth grin he swooped down towards her.

"Clemmmy, look out!"

However, it wasn't the doe who stopped his attack. Something round and hard smacked into him as he came within inches of the frail rabbit; scale-like and strong. The gull plummeted, and collided with Gupta, effectively knocking both of them off the elk. The armadillo burst from his ball like a snail that had learned the definition of 'fast' and scooped out one of the weapons embedded in the deck.

Silas and Gupta, lying in a tangle on the ground, hefted their chins up to gape at them. They had regrouped, the turtle-like creature had returned to their side. The bat now sat on the doe's head, and the elk lifted his head in the air, panting.

"We're leaving this _deranged _sea accommodation." He told them, stoutly. Gupta, however, looked behind them, where they had left the other members of the crew with ashes burning their eyes. However...it hadn't for long. Shira had gotten up once again, in silence, to the side of them. Dobson gave a sneering sort of _oink_, sharing a smirk with the gull and badger.

Gupta chortled, and Silas felt a smile draw back on his beak, speaking in a grovelling, quiet purr. "That is what you think, _mon amis." _

Raz lifted her spear and gave a dark, merciless grin, and threw it without delay. The sharp shell at its point sliced the back of the elk's thin leg, and he buckled, falling. The doe squealed in horror.

The Captain had retrieved the long-bone sword from the ground and sliced at them, and the group recoiled to avoid it; tipping like a sunken ship. The armadillo jumped back, but the turtle-like creature and the elk fell onto their sides completely, the former's legs waving in the air as his own shell trapped him upside down.

Gutt's strong fingers reached out and gripped the elk's antlers, and _twisted._ An audible snap filled the air as the end of the left one broke clean off; the white material snapping. The elk cried out in agony, broken in both body and soul. The armadillo stood, stiff like a statue, watching as Gutt shot him a broad grin, twirling the piece of antler in his hand.

The taunt was enough. The armadillo lunged with his blade, and Gutt blocked his blow. Raz turned her head, deciding that the Captain probably wanted him to himself as a kill. She saw the elk was down, shivering on the ice, the gyptodon was trapped upside down like a dejected turtle. She sneered, and looked back at the armadillo once more.

He blocked Gutt's blade as it sliced through the air and down at him, but it wasn't strength keeping him alive. He was no bigger than the primate's for arm, maybe smaller, so his constant dodging was the only thing keeping him alive. Raz felt a prickle of something, perhaps that impressed feeling, spread in her chest. But, it wasn't strong enough for her to wish him luck.

The crew had stopped to watch the fight between their Captian and the armadillo, as it looked like the scaly-looking shrimp was the only one still fighting. There was no banter between them, just fighting, slashing, and clanging. They wanted to kill, no words needed.

Raz felt something stir the air by her foot, however. Tearing her gaze away from the fight and sure enough, Squint and sped past her, but slowed down. He flipped his dagger around in his paw, and a smirk slowly grew on his lopsided face as his eyes finally caught the rabbit girl again. She was dragging her fire-coated club of wood now, exhausted, and Raz's eyes widened when she saw what she was doing.

She lifted the burning club to a vine- one of the vines keeping the nets of fruit strung above aloof. If she severed it, it would bring them down on Gutt. Raz fell her blood boil.

_Yer a sneaky little smarty-pants, ain't ya?_

Before she had time to react herself, however, Squint had lunged, a dart of grey fur. The doe herd his cackle and turned, and Raz saw terror flash on her face. She squealed, and swung the burning branch, smacking Squint in the face before he could tackle her once more.

The branch, with the force of the girl's swing, was thrown from her paws, and the pirates watched as the burning wood flew through the air, above their heads, and lit the vines holding whole nets of fruit above them. Gutt and the armadillo stopped, hearing the crackling of flames, and lifted their heads.

"No..." Gutt growled through his teeth. But the vines snapped as the flame ate away, and the fruit toppled down at him and his crew. The armadillo leaped out of the way just in time to avoid the collision.

Raz felt her head being hammered with fruit, which was surprisingly hard for pieces of food, and she lost her balance, losing her balance and toppling over.

Squint rubbed his singed face, forcing himself back onto his legs, his nose twitching with fury. His body shook with untamed adrenalin as he watched the rest of the crew being thrown into confusion by the shower of fruit and fire-caught vines.

His flickered to the side. The rabbit girl was pulling at the turtle-creature's side, trying to turn him over, the elk pushing himself back onto hooves, despite the pain. The armadillo had ran to the side of the ship where their capture ship was tethered.

Squint hissed.

He chose a target, without hesitation.

Clementine tugged at Glett once more, with a final, heart-pounding heave, and pulled him back onto his side. He managed to wobble back onto his stubby feet, at last. Maut, her wing useless, stumbled after Argeth to help him, whatever he was doing. Her chest was pumping, overworking her small frame to the breaking point. She felt like her nerves where going to burst any second,

"W-we have t-to go..." She whispered, more to herself than anyone else. Glett hobbled along towards the side of the ship to Argeth, Kurues following him on shaking legs. Clementine tried not to look at him, she knew her horror at his snapped antler was great, but it was nothing compared to what he must feel. The pirates where still in confusion, fruit juices blinding them and tripping them. The fire from the fines trapped them in a circle of burning ropes.

Argeth swung over the side of the ship on a vine, Maut fallowing with a whoop.

With once last glance backwards at the pirates, Clementine raced to the side of the ship and began climbing up the ice formation that was akin to a wall, managing to get up after a frantic scramble. She gulped a heavy ball of air, seeing how far down their previous ship was...

Kurues didn't seem to care. He leaped down weekly, landing in the water below, his teeth latching onto a vine attached to the ship. Glett did the same, a second splash following suit. Just her left...

_"Aaargh!"_

A furious cry tore through the air and Clementine whirled around. The crazy rabbit buck had grabbed onto her arm and leg, giving a sharp tug. Clementine squeaked and gripped the side of the ice, kicking him in the stomach. He slipped back, but didn't let go.

"You're not going _anywhere!" _ He spat, throwing himself forward again, his paw leaving her arm and instead clawing at her shoulder, gripping it tight. Clementine lashed out by instinct, her breathes laboured with terror. He seemed blood-thirsty, like a feral cat, and she was certain he meant to maim her.

"Stop it! Let me go!" She screeched, shoving at him, but as much as she kicked him back, he didn't fully let go, still holding onto her. He climbed up the wall fully now, and his lanky arm slid over her shoulder and around her chest, locking her in a hold. Clementine tried elbowing him, and heard him gag behind her. He slid back down the icy slope. He lifted his head, sneering. Clementine turned once more, about to jump, her fear of the crazy male greater than her fear of heights, but he grabbed her foot again, pulling- and she slipped. Her stomach hit against the wall, leaving her arms dangling over the side of the ship, but her leg on the other side. She coughed.

"You're gonna regret that, Girlie!" He pulled again. Clementine cried out as she was pulled back onto the deck, and she could see the other pirates stumbling out of the fiery vines and fruit. She'd run out of time.

Her back hit the ice and the air was knocked from her lungs. The grey rabbit leaped on her instantly, not giving her any chance to escape. Clementine gave a wail, struggling- but when she tried to hit him, he caught her wrist, her other arm pinned by his other paw. Clementine squirmed beneath him, but couldn't dislodge him.

He bore a deranged, savage grin down at her, knowing he had won, she was defenceless. Clementine's heart hammered against her chest. She couldn't control her breathing, but couldn't close her eyes or look away either. She was frozen. This was it, she was dead, or in for much worse before that first. She prayed he'd simply kill her, and quickly.

"P-please..." She whispered, feeling her eyes prickle with tears. She felt so frightened, and so hopeless, she couldn't stand it. His smirk only broadened, squinted eyes narrowing. He laughed in response, and pressed her paws against the ice, in a vice-like grip. Clementine cringed.

"I don't think so, Girlie...your time is officially _up."_

Clementine didn't bother struggling, and instead forced her eyes shut and turned her head away, quivering, waiting for whatever pain or torment he had in store to be inflicted, along with that other fear buried in her mind. She hoped it hadn't crossed his mind.

_Please, just let him kill me quickly..._

Suddenly, he yelped. In pain. Clementine's eyes snapped open and she saw Maut, her teeth sunk into his long ear, dangling off his fur. He released the shaking doe and reeled back, the bat tearing at his tender skin on his floppy ear. She let go, giving her working wing a single flap to soar back into Clementine's chest. Clementine caught her, and scrabbled back, warmth returning to her legs.

Without looking, without questioning, Clementine threw herself off board, the pirates having ran towards her, but missing their chance. They leaned over the side and watched her fall through the air with the bat in her arms.

Clemenine kept her eyes screwed shut, waiting for the sea to embrace her in bitter coldness, but instead a pair of arms engulfed her, snatching her out of the air. Her eyes opened quickly. Argeth had caught her, standing on top of their little ship's tree. The vines had been severed, and Kurues heaved himself up, placing his front hooves on the side of the pirate ship.

The pirates watched, stiff in fury, as he kicked against their ship. It was enough to direct their little ship away, and instantly it was caught in a current. Clementine saw the giant ape roar above, and she knew they'd give chase...but their ship, she realized, was smaller, and lighter. The current was already pulling them away.

Maut, her teeth stained with blood after her maiming of the buck's ear, whooped loudly. Clementine realized that without her working wings, she had to have climbed up the side of the ship to save her. Her heart glowed at that.

Kurues panted and fell onto his side once more. The pirate ship was getting further away now, but turning, meaning to go after them. Clementine remained in Argeth's arms, trembling, and looked back at it.

She saw the crazy buck, holding his bleeding ear, sneering after them with a resentence. Clementine had a very good notion that it was her in particular that he was looking at. She closed her eyes.

"Pretty good fire-trick, Pipsqueak."

She looked up groggily, Maut still lying on her chest. Argeth was looking down at her, a ghost of a smile lingering on his face. Clementine felt a wobbily smile come to her face.

"Y-yeah...well, you know..."

"Argeth..."

Kurues was lying, bleeding, on the ground. Clementine's eyes widened, and she felt something in her chest drop. She struggled out of the armadillo's arms and sped towards him, her forgotten herb bag finally remembered. She fell to her knees at his side, seeing so much blood leaking from his shoulder and leg than before.

"K-Kurues, hold on..." She whispered, dragging out some herbs from her back. Her paws shook as she worked, once again igniting fire to a small branch. The clouds above lit quietly with far-away thunder. She knew this trick from long ago. Get rid of the infection, burn it away. Painful but effective.

Kurues smiled weakly at her, his voice quiet. "You...you w-where so great...I knew I could count on you..."

Clementine felt tears spill over her cheeks. Never had she cried for someone, or felt such admiration. He was in so much pain, he'd done so much, but he praised her for being lucky. "...You d-did so much more...you got us away from their ship even when your leg...and you fought them while I ran around..."

"...I was just as s-scared..." He murmured, looking at her, reddish-brown eyes so warm, Clementine almost felt as if she could feel it against her fur. She held the burning branch to his shoulder wound, seeing infection had already set in. She needed to get out the building-up yellow puss.

She held it against him, hearing him hiss...but not as much as he should have. Argeth stood quietly behind her, Maut knelling beside her, watching Kurues with big, wide blue eyes. Glett nuzzled him gently with his flat face, giving a soft grunt.

"...C'mon, Elk...we need ya..." Maut said, quietly, "...Us...we can't do this without ya..."

Argeth said nothing, watching him in silence. Clementine forced her paws to be steady and dropped the herbs into his wound, wiping away the blood. She moved to his leg, and lifted a broken piece of vine, tying it, to seal the wound. The bleeding slowly depleted. But it had been so much...

Kurues coughed gently as she came back to face him, sitting down beside his long, lean face. His eyes where closed now, his breaths laboured. Clementine watched his chest rise and fall.

"Kurues..." She whispered, placing her paw on his face, gently, softly. He opened his eyes, and she saw herself, scared and shivering, reflected in his brown iris.

"Don't w-worry 'bout me, Clem...l-look after the others...they'll need it..."

_Look after the others..._

Clementine wept, then, as he fell out of consciousness. She wept for this noble buck, who even in his agony, was thinking of others.

Further away, the glacier that housed the pirates followed the current, the stormy seas gradually becoming more and more restless, as if tasting the resentment in the air. Gutt stood at the edge of the ship, gripping the side of the ice with his clawed hand, his gaze set ahead, one the small bur of white that was his prey.

Shira stood at his side, eyes narrowed upon their target.

"First Mate." Gutt spoke in a gruff, slow voice, his tone flat. "Once we catch up to the escapees, make sure you leave the armadillo to me. I want the elk alive, too. Do what ya want with the others. Let the boys have some fun. But keep them alive for now, too."

Shira gave a faintly perplexed look in response, "Alive, Captain...?"

Gutt kept his gaze locked ahead, his voice still quiet. His posture was tense, but brooding with repressed power and angst. His boiling blood, rushing with blood thirst, could almost be seen through his very fur.

"I want them alive. I will _break _them."


	7. Chapter 7

_Two chapters in a day...meh._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 7

Rainfall Before the Storm

The pirates and the group of wayward survivors had met for less than a few hours, but it didn't take a genius to know that they were now sworn enemies. The sea was surging with lively, powerful waves, but not enough to cause damage to either of the ships. The ocean itself seemed to have been given the incentive not to interfere, but to stir up the feud by giving the setting a particularly apprehensive mood. There was no stillness, no steadiness.

Night had come, and Clementine could no longer see the pirate ship. But she knew it was behind them. The current carried them still, and the winds where picking up, blowing against her already numbing ears, so she couldn't pinpoint any sounds. She hoped those winds would also keep the gull from scouting ahead, that and the darkness.

Problem was, she could barely see a thing.

Maut was holding tight to her ears, standing upon her shoulder the best she could. The doe moved around their small ship, watching Argeth hammering more sharp branches into the sides the best he could manage in the small scrap of lighting provided by the mood. Said light was clouded over by rainclouds, and Clementine knew it would rain soon.

Kurues lay nearby, his back against the fruit tree. Around his waist a vine had been tied, its other end wrapped taught around the trunk. The same went for everyone else; after Argeth being thrown off into oblivion, they had secured themselves lifelines. The boat jostled a little. Clementine stumbled, but didn't fall, carrying some fruit to Kurues and sitting beside him. She thanked the heavens it wasn't bumpy enough on the sea to knock of her. She could at least walk around the ship.

"Kurues, here..." She murmured, lifting a piece of plum to his mouth. With a faint cough he opened his jaw and she dropped it in, making sure he swallowed. He needed it more than any of them.

Argeth stood up, dusting off grimy hands, "Right, got the whole ship spiked all around..." He called to her, "But we won't go long without food."

"The rain can be collected in out berg can't it...?" Clementine inquired, eyeing a few depressions in their 'deck', resembling little 'slumps' that could perhaps collect the rainwater. It would surely fall soon. Argeth gave a stiff nod, beginning to pace around. His frown had not budged since they left the pirate ship,

"Yeah, yeah, but I said food..." He muttered, rubbing his chin slowly, despite how fast his legs where going. "The pirates swiped most of ours while they beat the stuffing out of Kurues."

Clementine tried not to frown, but failed. She said nothing, watching him wander around the deck. Glett snored softly, despite the howling winds tugging at them, and the dampness of the air.

Maut sniffed, leaning against Clementine's head. "So what then? Not all o' us can eat the fishies, Argy my man."

Argeth's scowl deepened at the shortened name she'd roped him with, but seemingly chose to ignore it for now. "The only other animals with guaranteed food stored are the pirates."

Clementine did not like his tone. And Kurues, injured and sick, was in no position to speak up against him this time. She swallowed,

"...Whatever you're thinking-"

"You know what I'm thinking. It's like Gutt said." Argeth came to face her, and Clementine looked away from his stern gaze, which could burn holes through ice if they were any more intense, "Its survival of the fittest."

Clementine looked back at him, then, ignoring his piercing look. His was serious about this idea; no faint smirk or sarcasm present, he was being genuine. Rob the pirates. Go _back._

"Are you insane?" The words where gone from her lips before she could bite them back. Maut held onto her ear, leaning forward to stare at Argeth, her jaw hanging open and a brow raised,

"Didja hit your flat noggin' on the way down to the ship, Armadillo?!"

"What other choice do we have?" Argeth was not deterred. He folded his arms slept on, Kurues, too, oblivious. Maut and Clementine shared wide-eyed, incredulous looks with each other. He wasn't going to be talked out of this, not as long as the seas where salty and the pirates wanted their blood. And those things where not going to be changed any time soon.

Clementine felt sick, and was sure she'd heave if she had anything in her stomach. "Argeth, did you see what they _did _to us...?"

"Yeah, they done snapped Kurues's antlers, smacked us about, kicked us-" Maut waved her working wing about, comically enraged and tiny still, "We got our butts handed to us back there and you wanna rob the guys that robbed us?!"

"Precisely." Argeth was smirking very faintly now. Maut and Clementine stared at each other again, mouths hanging open.

Maut hopped off her shoulder and stormed over to Kurues to try and wake him and Glett to get some kind of opinion to back them up. Clementine would have stopped her from waking, but she couldn't leave this conversation as it was.

"Argeth...those animals..." She whispered, wrapping her arms on herself, on her knees still. "They where brutal, and they'll...be even more..."

Argeth glanced at her, now sharpening the dagger he'd stolen from the pirates. He showed no hint of giving up on his idea. Clementine lowered her head, tearing her gaze from him.

She felt hopeless. "That...buck."

The sound of sharpening ceased, but Clementine didn't look up. "...He grabbed me...I felt awful, and afraid...I can't go through that."

A silence followed, and Clementine could only listen to the rippling waves. Then, there was a sigh. She looked up. Argeth was staring ahead, as if contemplating. Then he glanced back at her, eyes narrowed.

"Look. I'll keep the crazy pest away from you, but if we don't do this...we _will _die." His voice was even, but Clementine didn't hear the usual disdain. She swallowed.

Argeth stepped to her, looking down with brazen sternness. "You sucked it up and fought for Kurues back there, but now we're gonna have to do it again, Clementine."

Clementine was stiff, staring up at him. She felt angered, and hurt, by how bluntly he spoke. She lowered her head, staring down.

...But...

She looked at Kurues, the withering fruit they called supplies, she felt her own hunger and dry mouth. They were going to starve, going to die of thirst if they remained like this. Clementine gazed over the ocean, and covered her head with her paws.

She felt tears dampen her eyes, her body beginning to shake. She couldn't do this, couldn't go back. She'd rather curl up and starve than die...that way. Her back curled and she sobbed once, a thick choke in her breathing.

"Ya see? You can't ask Clem to go back!" Maut spat over at Argeth, apparently having failed to wake the others. She sliced a wing through the air, "You've got some nerve..."

Argeth grunted back, indifferent. Clementine swallowed, feeling shame build up inside her chest. Maut meant well, she knew, but she felt so hopeless, being spoke of like some fragile thing...which she was, but still...

Kurues had been afraid, had his shoulder bitten out. She'd just had some creep get to her, and she was crumbling. Clementine sniffed, loathing herself.

"...Clementine, we have to be strong now. It's us, or them...or dying without a fight." Argeth said, his frown unwavering. Clementine stared at him, and swallowed.

"...Okay..." She wiped her face and stood, slowly, and shrugged hopelessly, "Suicide, dandy. Mmm."

Maut's law would have hit the floor of the iceberg if it was open any further. "...You two- you...dang it..." She threw her wing in the air, and leaned her forehead against the tree trunk in aggravation. "Ah well, guess we can...kick butt if we wanna...heh..."

"Kurues won't be able to fight... Clementine mumbled, her back to him. Argeth rose a brow,

"Oh really?"

Clementine frowned in a perplexed manner, turning her head. Kurues was now standing, looking exhausted, but...alive. He raised his head and breathed in, stretching his shoulders, testing his injury, that had decreased in its gruesome infection almost completely now.

"You're tougher than I thought." Argeth remarked, sharpening his blade once more. Kurues gave a mirthless smile,

"Thanks, you arrogant renegade. So...we plan our own...siege to retrieve our stolen goods?"

Maut stared around her, aghast, but no one took her into account. Glett grunted, bobbing his head up and down. Clementine gave a shaky, but very tense, smile.

"I s'ppose if we're going to die anyhow...heh..." She stammered. Argeth flicked his wrist, testing out his new dagger, slicing the air.

"Pretty much. Now...battle plans..." He began moving around them, a habit it seemed of his when he was thinking, "We need to rely on quickness and agility, something this boat has and that ship doesn't..."

"Perhaps a sneak attack to begin with." Kurues continued, trotting to the sides and looking over, "We don't make much noise, and in this weather, maybe we can get close without being seen."

"In the night, when most of them are sleeping." Argeth noted, hooking on more info. Clementine's mind raced to follow their almost singular line of thought,

"They'll not all be asleep- that gull kept watch."

"Of course, look-outs." Argeth muttered, glancing upwards, clearly trying to think harder, "We can't take them out beforehand...so we need to keep their eyes off us somehow..."

Clementine frowned slowly, biting her lip. Then, something occurred to her, slowly. "...A diversion..."

They looked at her, elk and armadillo blinking in unison. Clementine felt a smile tug at her lips. "...If they...saw something, distracting them...some of us could sneak on, take the food..."

Argeth and Kurues slowly turned their heads to stare at each other, Kurues eyes bright with wonder, and Argeth actually smirking.

...

Squint hit the target just above the third skull's head. The row of bones had been neatly arranged by Gupta, who liked using them as musical instruments. Tonight, they used them to measure how high each dagger went.

Gupta groaned as he saw Squint make a successful hit, arms drooping. Squint gave a bark of laughter and snatched a particularly juicy pear from his pile of fruit.

"You lose again, Flag Rag!" He called, pointing both arms his way. Gupta glowered back at him, looking away in disdain. Silas rolled his eyes slowly from where he had perched nearby. He had observed the game with a small amount of interest.

He didn't like it when Squint won things; he always harassed the loser for at least a few hours to come. So, he decided to take him down a peg or two, "Well, _Mon Ami,_ you didn't have the same luck with the _femelle."_

Squint rose a crooked brow. Raz, however, was the one who answered. She was sitting nearby, polishing some of the weapons stashed away in her pouch.

"That ain't what ye think it is, and don' go on 'bout it." She didn't even look up. Squint, not yet catching onto what they were talking about, rose his brow even further up his head, effectively contorting his already lopsided face further. Gupta snickered nastily nearby, and Silas gave a haughty lift of the beak,

"Oh? And why would_ you_ care, _maser d'armes_?"

"I don'." Raz looked up at them now, eyes only, head still bent, giving off a rather deadly look that wasn't to be messed with. "Bein' female maself makes me paticula' on those things. And it ain't funny."

Shira, though less concerned, seemed to frown a little and looked away from the conversation, perhaps considering herself above adding her own two scents. Squint's ears snapped up.

"Wait a second, you _bozos, _ya don' seriously think that I-?!"

"You what?" Gupta snickered, grinning in a disdainful fashion as the buck glowered bloody murder at him.

"I called dibbs, yeah, but as a _target, _not...anythin' else! I'm not interested in that kinda stuff, so forget it!" He was infuriated, he hated being made fun of or anyone thinking anything of him that he didn't like. If he could read minds, he probably would have attempted to murder everyone on this ship sans the Captain.

"Exactly, I know ye don'. So no jokes 'bout it, especially from you, Gull boy. That girl ain' no prize." Raz said, once again looking down at her weapon and polishing away. Silas tittering quietly.

"Such sensitivity..."

Raz stopped, halting in mid-polish to glare steadily up at him.

"...No' funny. Beat it, before Ah beat you."

The gull gave a snobbish sniff and took off, fluttering higher up into the branches and out of her sight. Squint gave an aggravated growl and stormed off, too, nose twitching a little. Raz watched him go sourly, waiting until he was out of her sight to begin polishing again. Shira cocked a brow at the tall marsupial.

"Pretty sensitive. Hope it doesn't get out of your grip." She remarked in a plain manner, that faint smile of hers back. Raz felt a prickle of annoyance fill her chest.

She focused on her polishing. "Don' act like yer fine with females being ticked around like garbage, 'cause I know yer not." Raz said, tilting her head as she continued, "You of all people know 'bout that..."

Shira scowled stiffly, looking away. She never let her emotions take up too much of her expression, always in control. Raz didn't know whether to admire it or add it to the list of things that annoyed her about Shira.

She continued polishing in silence. A raindrop splattered on the blade, and she looked up. Sure enough, more followed, and soon a soft shower fluttered upon the ship. Raz wasn't bothered; she welcomed the fresh, salt-free water.

A grin played at her lips, though. "That gang out there won' be havin' a good night. They ain't used to rain an' sea at the same time."

Shira smoothed back the fur on her head, lounging on her wooden board still. "Probably not. But a little rainwater is the last thing that should be worrying them."

Raz's grin broadened, but faded when Shira added,

"Oh yeah...that bet of ours...I get the elk, you know, I got him first." The kangaroo chewed on the inside of her cheek, looking irritated.

"Fine, ye pompous cat. Ye get the big'un."

"Care for a round two?" Shira inquired, examine her claws, but her eyes where set on her fellow crewmember intently. Raz chuckled roughly,

"Yer on...'ow bout this time, whoever takes down the most of them gets the other antler off the elk.?"

Shira rose a brow, "What would I do with it?"

Raz shrugged, "I'd make a pretty good weapon, that material's harder to come by nowadays. Ye could have it as some kinda trophy...migh' go with' your earrings." She smirked then, Shira rolling her eyes,

"Oh, so hilarious..." She drawled, though smiled as well, "But have it your way. Game on."


	8. Chapter 8

_This chapter was boring to write for some reason. Now, onto the good stuff next...hopefully..._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 8

Look, a Distraction

The air was damp and salty, the fog was faint and thin. Argeth stared ahead, the waves splashing harshly against the side of their agile ship. Clementine raised her head to look at him. Night would have been easier to sneak up in, but unfortunately they could do nothing without them being able to see no more than the pirates could. The current, according to Argeth, carried both ships, theirs and that of the pirates. To get back to them, they simply needed to allow them to catch up.

Argeth had swung a bunch of vines out, like a lasso, and caught onto other icebergs drifting aimlessly in the water. Clementine hadn't paid much attention to the pieces of glacier floating in the sea; now she was glad they where there. They dragged behind them, slowing them down, but also putting something between them and the pirates ship. Though thin, maybe it would be hard for them to latch on and reel them back in like before.

Kurues moved to stand beside Argeth at the back of their ship, eyeing the misty horizon behind them. Clementine fiddled with her fingers, chewing on her lip at the same time. The silence only added to the tension; it hung in the air like a reeking smell.

"Argeth...if this doesn't work..." Her voice was soft, quiet, as if trying not to break that heavy air of tension, "I want you to know that...I'm glad that you helped us."

Argeth glanced at her, slowly, before looking ahead again. "...Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Kurues's gaze flickered to them both, but he said nothing before looking ahead once more. Minutes passed. Clementine lifted her ears, listening.

"...That gull will probably be scouting..." She eyed the skies above, through the thinning mist. But, she saw nothing. Not a speck, just greyness all around. She sighed, looking back at Argeth and Kurues attentively. Her eyes slid unwillingly to the antlers upon the tall elk's head, and she shuddered inwardly at seeing the now blunt end. She wondered if he was thinking about it, if he felt loss. She supposed so, elks saw their antlers as a prideful thing, a treasure and mark of their very species.

She didn't dare ask.

Something shifted, in the mist. The sound of treading water, not too loud, but definitely something moving in the water. The group went still instantly and set their eyes to the left, none daring to even breathe too loud. Clementine felt her fur stand on end, and her senses heighten. She listened with all her might, ears straight.

She heard voices.

"They're here!" She hissed, instantly. Argeth gave a curt not and waved a hand, a finger to his lips. Kurues turned slowly and as lightly as his hooves would allow. The voices where clearer now; it seemed the pirate gang wasn't keeping their voices down at all. They where a rowdy bunch, after all, and they obviously didn't expect them to be this close by, huddled behind- or rather in front- of a bunch of tethered ice chunks...

Clementine began quivering once more as she watched Kurues roll a circular ball of ice along the deck. He'd spent a lot of the night cutting at it with his antlers, making sure it was round enough for him to pull off this feat.

Argeth dragged yet another piece of ice into view. Clementine wondered just how convenient this ice was going to be as he positioned it like a seesaw on Glett's back. Clementine blinked, watching Kurues roll the ice-ball onto the side of said seesaw.

"Maybe we shouldn't use Glett as a prop?"

"He wanted to help." Argeth replied sourly, as quietly as a sour voice would go without giving away their precarious position. Clementine felt slightly exasperated, but protested no further. She heard voices again, drifting ever so closer to where they were. The mist was so thin, it wouldn't be long now.

"If it's the buck you're worried about, don't be." Argeth said, making sure the ice boulder was in the exact position he wanted, "I won't let him touch you."

Clementine watched him, feeling an odd feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite place. She lifted her head, trying to focus on the skies, for the gull, to put her mind on anything else but this suicidal mission the armadillo had cooked up for them.

Argeth waved his arm in silence, gesturing to Kurues to keep the boulder still. Then, with his lifeline still attached via vine, he hopped from the side of the ship onto one of the tethered blocks of ice. Clementine cringed, but was relieved to see the stubborn mammal hadn't fallen in.

He jumped along the blocks of ice, then moved to the ones that weren't tied to their ship, further away to the left. His plan was to pretend to be some poor soul crying out, lost at sea, and lead the pirate ship just a _little _to the left. Then, they'd tug him back with the lifeline...and somehow board the ship while their attention was set to their non-existent target.

It couldn't possibly go wrong now, could it? All it took was that infernal gull flying a bit too close and spotting them through the ever-thinning morning mist.

The boulder that was in position to fire...well. It was clear that this wasn't going to remain a stealth mission for very long.

Clementine chewed on her lip apprehensively as she watched Argeth's hopping figure move further and further through the mist, now _rowing _the block of ice he stood on with a thin piece of wood. Clementine hoped he hadn't taken too much wood from the tree...

His lifeline was the only thing they could see now; various vines attached to each other to make it longer. Clementine slowly undid hers with shaking fingers. She and Argeth would be the ones going onto the pirate ship and grabbing the food, then somehow getting it to Kurues. She'd never been regretful to have paws before.

Kurues gave her what he obviously hoped was an encouraging smile, but it wavered. Clementine mimicked it back to him, even more brief. Then, Argeth began yelling. Clementine fidgeted uncomfortably. He was a good actor all right...though she'd never think him capable of such helpless sounds.

Her ear gave a twitch; in response to his cries, the voices on the pirate ship, now precarious close in the mist, had stopped. Then, they heightened, and she caught a few scattered laughs and jeers. Then, a creaking sound...

...They'd turned the ship. Clementine's throat tightened in a choke hold when the pirate glacier finally came into view, heading to the left, but so near they could have been spotted. Behind the ice chunks they had tethered to their ship, they perhaps had some cover.

Clementine threw herself down and huddled at the back of the ship, Kurues, Glett and Maut following her lead. With them hidden, perhaps their ship would look just like a bigger ice junk behind the cluster of weights.

Clementine then saw Aregth's lifeline being tugged gently. She glanced over the ice blocks and saw the ship was a little further away now, a little safer. She spotted Argeth hopped back along the drifting ice further head, then slipping into the icy waters. She began pulling him in, hands shaking as she held the vine. They'd managed the first part of the plan.

"Now for the insane part..." She whispered, her body beginning its usual quivering. Argeth gave a stiff not, retrieving his dagger and tossing a sharpened branch her way. "Let's catch up to the ship. They're pretty hyped up for their catch. They won't notice us if we're quick."

Clementine followed him, grudgingly noting in her mind that if he truly thought so, they wouldn't have made the boulder-throwing weapon that Glett had been made part of with the ice plank tied to his shell...

Clementine forced her legs to walk, and followed Argeth. She kicked off the ice before she could chicken out, and landed on one of the floating pieces of ice in the water. Argeth was ahead of her, moving quickly.

She wobbly followed him, concentrating on the leaps, being easy for a rabbit of course. Their stepping-stones ran out, however, and Argeth once again rowed the ice they stood on towards the ship, coming alongside it. Clementine gulped as quietly as possible. Had it gotten bigger? No, that was impossible.

Above, she could clearly hear the chatter of the pirates, but paid no attention to the words. Argeth let the ship drift a little forward so they where adjacent to the very back of it, then he swung the vine he held around, his dagger attached to the end.

He tossed it upwards, and it hooked expertly into one of the portholes at the side of the ship. The fawn doe blinked, but didn't question him.

He began climbing up, and with a her while body shaking, Clementine followed.

Up on deck, Squint was twirling his dagger between his fingers, smiling slightly to himself. He'd heard the cries for help, and spent a few minutes laughing before a certain kangaroo threatened violence if he continued. The ones that actually called for their help where always the most amusing; he liked the looks on their faces when they realized they were done for. Their relieved grins slipping into horror...pretty fun stuff.

He hopped up onto the right side of the ship, peering at the misty waters below, "Shouldn't they be 'ere somewhere?"

"It was ahead o' us, they'll be there." Raz commented plainly, striding past him with her spear. Squint chortled to himself, running a finger along his dagger. Raz eyed him briefly as she went past. Squint spotted her and retorted with his signature, crooked glare. As he thought, she rolled her eyes and looked away with a grunt.

"Heh." He zipped away from her, to the front of the ship, shoving past Dobson in the process and ignoring his indignant snort. He peered over, looking for their target, but saw nothing. His ear drooped in disappointment.

"Mph." He flounced back, slipping past Shira's legs, once again ignore his crewmember's annoyance with him, and moved to the back of the ship. He felt restless; he wanted to move around, wanted to _do _something. He would go nuts if this continued any longer, this...silence.

He seized a plumb from one of the many stacks piled around and took a less than mannered bite out of it, leaning against an ice pedestal, bored.

Something...scurried somewhere behind him, in the maze of stacked weapons and food. His floppy ear twitched and he turned his head, expecting to see one of the rats that usually sneaked about, but seeing none. He sniffed, a brow raised, his chewing slowing down.

"...Who's there?" He asked, a slow suspicious drawl. There was no answer. He stuffed the last of the plumb in his mouth, whipping out his fishbone dagger and lifting it slightly, moving along the closed-up space, eyeing the piles of food. He looked left, then right, seeing no-one. He wondered if Gupta was going to jump out at him. If he did, he'd lose his nose.

He blinked. He then rubbed his eyes, feeling oddly perplexed. There had been a pile of fruit packed up in a tight net; stored for much later than the piles around him. A second ago the stack had been higher, now it seemed one of the bundles where...gone.

His nose wrinkled. "Huh."

Squint slunk around to the other side of the sack, and stiffened, his foot sticking to the ice he stood upon. His eyes where very wide.

A familiar fawn-coloured doe whirled around and gave a short gasp, brown irises tiny as her own eyes looked ready to pop out of her head. Her chest heaved with anxious breathes, and the two stared at each other in their frozen states for what felt like years.

She began quivering like a leaf, backing away. Squint felt a surge of delight and a grin slid onto his face.

"Hi, _Girlie."_

She bolted, a frantic attempt to escape. Squint cackled and leaped after her, reaching out to catch her by the ear, but missing- she turned her head and swiped at him with what looked like a spiky branch.

Squint reeled back, glancing down at it in surprise, then snorted. He sliced forward with his dagger, snapping it in two. She squeaked and dropped it to the ground, backing away from him once more. He advanced, shoulders hunched, as if ready to pounce. Her quivering paws raised in front of her,

"S-stop it...keep b-back."

Squint continued advancing, slowly backing her up against a vertical wall of ice. She pressed herself as far away from him as possible. "Why?" He cackled, hefting his dagger close. She turned her head away, giving a small whine. "Ya scared I'm gonna _slice_ you?"

"I never d-did anything to you..." She whispered, curling away, arms wrapped around herself. She looked so pitiful that he had to laugh, stepping closer, knowing it would only terrify her more. He didn't care to ask how she got back here, he was having too much fun with his game.

Seeing him right in front of her, she gave a soft, tiny squeal and cowered away, ducking and raising frail arms to protect herself. Squint prodded her arm with his blade, and she fell to her knees, her breath a small squeak. He rose a brow, though was still grinning merrily.

"Aaw, you gonna _cry, _girlie...?" He crooned meanly.

"With laughter, maybe."

Something hit him, hard and heavy, over the back of his head. His vision blurred and he smacked against the ground, feeling the wind being knocked right from his lungs. He looked up dizzily, seeing the doe turn her head to look up at the person beside him, then down at him with a small sniff. She wiped her eyes.

Squint, feeling incredibly dizzy, blacked out the second Raz's spear hit the wall beside her.

Argeth turned his head. The kangaroo had spotted them, and being smarter than the crazy buck, she wasn't going to play around. He sneered and grabbed Clementine, lifting her with ease and pulling her along to the side of the ship. The marsupial called out, and something snapped at his heels. He turned his head and saw her swinging a vine...a vine attached to a skull that had creepily tried to bite off his feet as if still alive. Seeing his look, the kangaroo smirked and tossed it again, narrowly missing his face.

"Betta watch it, there, shorty!"

He left her no time to do it again. He leaped off the side of the ship, and into the cold waters below. Clementine screwed her eyes shut as they went under, seeing nothing but blurry darkness, before resurfacing, spluttering out salty water from her throat.

Argeth began kicking through the water, towards their stepping-stone blocks of ice. The ship couldn't turn quickly enough, so the pirates began throwing daggers down at them. Clementine shrieked, narrowly avoiding a pointed starfish.

They made it to the ice blocks. Clementine grabbed onto the side of the first once, dragging herself up, hearing the yells of fury from behind them. Argeth dragged her up and they leaped from block to block, and Kurues saw them coming with alarm.

"Cut the vines! Get rid of the weights!"

Something flew from behind them and sliced right into the block of ice they'd hopped onto. It broke right into it, and it shattered, sending the two plummeting back into the water. Gutt's raucous laugh broke out behind them, and Argeth knew only he could generate that amount of force.

They began firing their canons. Maut tossed out a vine their way and Argeth grabbed hold, Clementine next, and Kurues seized the other end with his teeth and began pulling them in as quickly as he could. Argeth coughed,

"No time! Fire our boulder back!" He called. Kurues looked reluctant, but let go of the vine, pouncing over to their makeshift weapon and leaping onto the other side of the plank...tossing the ball of ice right back at the pirates catapult style.

Clementine and Argeth had to drag themselves along the line. The doe turned her head and saw the kangaroo leap back as one of the canons was hit by their ice ball, smacking it. A dumbfounded look crossed her features. Clementine looked away quickly.

Kurues leaned down, offering his antlers for them to grab, as climbing back up could mean getting poked by the sharp sticks Argeth nailed into the side of the ship. The elk heaved them back on, and Argeth wasted no time in using his dagger to cut the vines tethering them to their weights. Instantly the current dragged the smaller ship away, speeding up. Argeth waved sourly back at the pirate ship as it drew smaller. Gutt, though his expression was too far away to see, gave a loud, furious roar that echoed along to them, making everyone sans the armadillo cringed in unease.

Clementine breathed in, and out, wondering if they'd saved themselves, or signed their own death warrants.


	9. Chapter 9

_I meant to develop the characters more...but got bored. Their development will come from their interactions with our pirates, so I decided pick things up a bit._

_What's this? Another chapter? Dang._

* * *

Going Under: Chapter 9

Out-Sailing

Squint didn't along with Raz or Shira; his rudeness seemed more exaggerated to the two female members of the crew than that of the others. Perhaps males where just more accustomed to being annoyed and being annoying themselves. So it was no surprise that Raz was not exactly concerned about the possible concussion he'd received when the armadillo had hit him via sneak attack.

She left him rubbing his head where he sat and moved back to the rest of the crew, shaking her head. They hadn't managed to catch up to the gang of wayward luck-grabbing creatures, and their Captain's temper grew thinner by the hour. Raz didn't voice it out loud, but she had a strange notion that the Captain was acting...strange. He was moving around the deck, knuckle-walking slowly and stiffly, his face twisted in an ever-present scowl that could ward off even the most fearless of predators. Gutt was angry, and being a vicious creature down to his rotted heart, he wasn't going to rest until he'd made each member of that group suffer as much as could possibly be caused.

Raz wasn't surprised at that, of course not. But this seemed less like a sport and more like a grudge, and she wondered just what bore that grudge. She never seen any of that lot before in her life, and she had been pirating at Gutt's side for years now. The ice had been melting, and the land breaking apart for what could be a short lifetime. Most teenagers around this time, she reasoned, had probably never known of the time where there was nothing but Ice all around, and the sound of the land splitting wasn't the norm.

Gutt swung from the deck onto the bow of the ship, hanging onto a taught fine to keep himself from falling. Silas fluttered down to his shoulder, and Raz's keen eyes narrowed.

She watched Silas take off, and vanish into the mist. She didn't need to hear their conversation to know what plan Gutt had; keep an eye on the current, see if they planned any other little schemes.

She turned her head, and heard thunder roll in the distance. Her brow furrowed in contemplation. It was a heavy clash, much louder than the previous storm. Then, something else echoed through the ocean's jittery surface. A jolting sound, not sky, not sea. Land. It was breaking apart again, and it was big. Shira raised her chin, hearing it as well, and shared a look with the jill. Gutt paid no attention, apparently no interested in a fresh catch. Raz chewed on her lip idly, watching the ape as he stared ahead, as if willing the ship to go faster.

...

It felt like a lifetime since Clementine heard cheering, heard happiness. They had all remained silent for a full half hour as they drifted out of sight once more from the pirate ship, being pulled by the merciful current into the mists. Then, with the pirates out of sound and sight range, and the nets filled with food sitting quietly around them, the survivors had leaped up in happiness.

Clementine and Maut embraced each other, the bat having thrown herself at the doe's chest with whoops of laughter. Kurues laughed out-loud with them, Glett bobbing his head up and down, giving gentle grunts of merriness as Agreth leaned against the ship's trusty wood-giving tree, smirking faintly with his eyes closed.

Clementine barely had any breath left in her system to begin congratulating him on his insane but effective plan, and even if she had any air in her lungs left, it was held when Maut shoved one of the pears into her mouth.

"I have to hand it to you, Argeth, that went better than expected." Kurues commented from where he sat, his own cheeks filled with apple pieces, "Quite fool-proof."

"I still think it was crazy." Maut said, tossing a berry into the air and snapping her sharp little teeth around it; something that almost made Clementine jump in alarm, "But a good kinda crazy."

"I told you it would work." Argeth said, striding through the little gathering and impaling various pieces of fruit with his dagger, making an effective kebab.

"The buck saw us try to take that last bag...we had to leave it." Clementine sighed, feeling once again the familiar bugle of shame in the pit of her frail stomach. Maut waved her working wing, per usual,

"Ah, it's just one lil' bag. You guys sent loads of others floating out way." She shoved the next berry into her mouth, adding in a muffled comment: "Thank the heavens for them currents, huh?"

"How far do you think we're from land...?" Clementine asked quietly. Her words had, essentially, been a voicing of the thoughts to herself, so she spoke to no one in particular. However, everyone went quiet, and even Glett seemed less verbal than usual. With the fog closed around them and chilling the air, and the endless greyness of the stormy oceans, land had not been in their sights...nor on their minds at all. Almost as if it existed so far away, in another timeline, a timeline they had left after they almost died at the hands of the destruction.

Clementine realized she had brought up a hopeless sounding topic and ducked her head a little, feeling foolish as well as a little less jubilant that her stomach was now full. Finding land seemed impossible to her now, and she realized with growing hopelessness that should they find it again by some miracle of nature (and judging how nature had treated them up till now, she wasn't certain of it..as Argeth said, the land breaking apart was like one giant 'to heck with you' from Mother Earth herself) she wondered just how long it would be before another land break would send them back into the sea, or under the rubble.

Yes, Mother Nature was really going all out here.

"...We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Kurues said placidly, leaning down to munch on the rest of his apple, only to stiffen as Maut added in sarcastically,

"If that ain't already crumbled, too, by the time we get there."

Argeth snorted. It was the closest thing to a laugh Clementine had ever heard from him.

Something reverberated across the land, brief but heavy, echoing and deep. Clementine knew that sound, and though it was do distant, so far, she knew what it was. And it came from the opposite direction they were going in; the current pulling them away.

"Land..." Kurues murmured, quietly.

"Or what used to be land." Argeth corrected lowly, watching the mist, keen brown eyes narrowed to slits. Clementine pulled on her ears gently.

Argeth shrugged, "Hmm, maybe they'll go back looking for fresh meat." Kurues turned his head instantly, giving him a hard look.

"I'm sure you don't mean that, Argeth."

The armadillo turned away slowly. Clementine glanced at Kurues, suddenly feeling the tension between the two rise once more now that the danger of starvation had been vanquished for the time being. Kurues stood up slowly,

"The way you where speaking to that...brute that calls himself Gutt...it was almost as if you knew him." It was a statement, blunt and lined with suspicion. Maut's jaw dropped open and Glett grunted in a perplexed manner. Clementine slowly transferred her gaze to the back of Argeth's head, her hands slowly lowering away from her ears.

"..._Do _you know him, Argeth?" She uttered quietly, tentatively. The armadillo's posture had not changed, he stared ahead, arms at his side. His large nose and flat head didn't turn to face them; the dagger in his hand glinted softly in the dull cloudy light. Clementine knew he'd saved their lives, more than once, but she knew from his silence that what Kurues guessed was true. And he of course knew about the pirates, that they were out there...

"Were you one of them...?" She found herself whispering, suddenly feeling guilt tear at her soul. But she had to ask, even if he'd saved her life without question. Argeth finally turned his head, glowing at them with those dark, narrow eyes of his.

"...No. I chose not to be. And boy did that make him mad."

Clementine swallowed.

The ship gave a sudden jolt, and they all stumbled. Kurues lifted his head, staring at the water. There was no other waves; an individual wash had hit them, an echo of the land cracking far, far away. He breathed in,

"...The land is collapsing again...it may never stop..."

"So what do we do...?" Maut asked blazingly, peering at the armadillo in particular. Argeth retorted with his unmoving frown.

"We survive as we go along. No plans for the far future; which getting to land currently appears to be judging by the fact its crumbling like _ash."_

"Ohyeaaah." Maut droned, giving a nonchalant shrug. "So what's the...non-far future plan?"

"Try to out-run the pirates. Or out-sail, whatever you wanna call it." Argeth followed his arms, siffly. Kurues shook his head,

"So this..Gutt has a person vendetta against you?" Apparently he wasn't going to drop this. The armadillo didn't appreciate it, scowling at him with a vengeance.

"Obviously, Prissy Hooves." He said scathingly, "Guess you're sorry you let me on your berg, aren't you?"

Kurues watched him, quietly. Then, to everyone's surprise, the elk slowly shook his elongated head. "No. I don't regret helping you, never will. You saved us." Argeth stared back, arms folded, and for a second Clementine could have sworn she saw that internal frown of his waver and his eyes lighten just by the tiniest gleam.

"...You really are out of the ordinary for an era like this." The armadillo sighed, raising a hand to massage his forehead. Kurues beamed, eyes twinkling in slight humour.

"I'm quite away..."

"I'll deal with Gutt. He's my problem, and I'm the one he should be after...I'll make sure he knows it." Argeth said, turning on his feel and striding off to the front of the glacier, "A storm's coming. We'd better find a way to tie this food down."

"Right...and maybe with luck, the rain water will gather in the hollows..." Kurues said, trotting after him. Clementine watched the two continue their little leader-chatter, wondering if she was the only one whose head was still bombarded with questions. How did he know Gutt? Why? What did he do to start this grudge...?

Kurues seemed to be putting it aside to get work done faster, Maut just looked indignant that she hadn't been informed. Glett, however, cast her an odd look. Almost as if he knew what was troubling her. Clementine bit her lip and he nodded once.

The thunder roared across the sky, and was drawing nearer. Clementine felt the wind begin to pick up, and a dampness coat the air. She stood, rubbing her arms, and prepared herself for the next round of sickening lurches the sea offered in such conditions.

However, as she looked across the waters, something caught her eye. Something brown, not blue-grey, and bobbing up and down. Her mind jumped to a tree, and indeed it was; a tree trunk floating out their way.

There was more; roots, dead plants, and torn bits of earth latched onto pieces of broken ice, all floating along the bumpy sea. The others had gone quiet, looking over, too. The debris of the far away land, already torn away to sea.

"Dang...mother nature does hate us, huh?" Maut remarked, leaning against her leg. Clementine didn't look at her, eyes latched on the log drifting a few meters out. The wind grew stronger and the rain had come, as if following the log and other bits of rubble. Something different than the rubble caught her eye, however, and she looked closer.

Her stomach heaved.

It was something furry. Floating in the water, face down. A body.

And there were more; some on the pieces of ice, others entangled in the torn vegetation that had once been on land. Maut's witty remarks where all but spent and Clementine turned away, feeling her stomach heave. She clamped a paw over her mouth. The others stared out, horrified, unable to look away. Argeth frowned still, staring in silence at the sight. The storm's results lay before them, the ones that hadn't been as lucky as they had. Clementine slowly turned her head, daring to look for reasons she did not know...and saw something else. She saw small forms, not ice or soil, caught onto the log, clinging like moss. She squinted, peering the best her eyes would allow, holding her breath as if moving only a little could knock her gaze out of balance.

Animals. Bigger than her, but smaller than Kurues by far, where clutching onto the log for dear life, wafting in the freezing waters, their fur soaked to the bone. Clementine's jaw fell open.

"Kurues..."

Of course, the elk acted instantly, his legs pounding swiftly to a vine and hooking it into his antlers, ready to buck it over to them when they were close enough. Clementine turned back and rushed to the edge of the ship, calling through cupped hands,

_"Hang on!"_

"Argeth, grab the end!" The elk called, and the armadillo slowly took hold of the other end of the vine. He looked reluctant, but Clementine didn't ask why. Maut looked a little uncertain about this, too, but Kurues was not hesitant at all.

He tossed the vine out to the creatures clinging to the log. The waters where violently bashing against the ship's sides now, and Clementine almost slipped, giving a small gasp. When he looked back, she realized she could now see just what the animals where.

Her heart twisted. Soft fur and facial features, big wide eyes and trembling bodies. Children. And, as she looked closer, she saw that a small, black-furred ape child had grabbed onto the vine tossed his face, a pair of leaf-green eyes wide yet dim, as if exhausted. His fingers where dug into the bark of the log, strong already even at his age. Beside him a smaller child clung with both hands to the wood, not daring to so much as look up, far more afraid. Clementine's mind jumped to the kangaroo she'd seen back on the pirate ship, and realized that here was a kangaroo child, small and reddish-pink in fur, with little darker patches.

Argeth began pulling on the vine, and Clementine grabbed a hold to help. However, the ape child also began pulling, dragging himself, and the large log he held onto, towards them, huffing. The log hit against the side of their ship, strong and heavy, and the child dragged himself up onto it, his hands shaking with effort. Clementine watched as he pulled himself aboard, landing on his side and gulping down breaths, quivering. She went to his side to see if he had been hurt...but found, miraculously, the little ape hadn't received more than a few bruises.

"Tough kid." Argeth commented plainly. Which was more than could be said for the pink-red kangaroo clinging to the log, too afraid to let go.

Clementine felt a pang of empathy, and knew the feeling all too well. Being so scared that you could not move.

The child, a girl by the sound of her high-pitched squeaks, was hyperventilating with shock. Clementine looked at the ape boy, who continued breathing heavily, awake, but too exhausted to speak.

Kurues walked to the kangaroo girl, still latched onto the log that was now stuck to their ship, impaled on the pointed sides Argeth had created. The elk lowered his head, so his antler was in her reach. She didn't move.

"Clementine, I can't get her to budge!"

Clementine blinked, "Uh..."

"You the cute n' cuddly one, be...nice or somethin'." Maut elaborated, gesturing with her working wing. Clementine stood and stumbled to the side of the ship, kneeling down, feeling lost on what to say or do. She swallowed.

"L-look...I was scared when I washed from shore, too...but y-you need to let us help you. " The girl didn't move, but her eyes where open now, watery blue balls looking up at her in fear.

Clementine reached out a paw, just managing to pet the small tough of fur on her head. "You can manage it. You survived till now, didn't you...? Just let go..."

It was hard, and she tried not to feel angry at Argeth's irritated glare. She knew what this was like, she'd lived through it...not when she'd been thrown from sure, but before it. She knew.

Slowly, the joey raised her head, soft fur fluttering in the wind. Kurues remained where he was, and the child stared at his broken antler with a shudder.

"It's okay...he helped me. He'll pull you aboard with your friend..." Clementine said, keeping her voice steady and gentle, though the wind whipping at her soaked body almost made her teeth chatter. Finally, the girl reached out an gripped the antler. Kurues hook her from the side of the log and on board. As soon as she was placed down, she gripped his leg, trembling.

Kurues blinked, but allowed her to curl there, breathing out slowly. Clementine felt relief as well, but also unease. She didn't quite know why. Maybe it was because the two children had been saved by a bunch that pirates had set their teeth on.

Argeth regarded the log that was stuck to the side of their ship.

"...Well...I think we have some material to work with..." He paid no attention to the two young mammals, who where now both curled close to Kurues's leg. The ape boy's heavy breathing had subsided, and he eyed the armadillo with keen green eyes.

Argeth sneered back, "What're you looking at, kid...?"

A cocky, toothy grin slid onto the young ape's face.

"...Nothing much."

* * *

_Cocoum is back. And he's ready to annoy._


	10. Chapter 10

_Last chapter today, promise, as I'm tired now XD A shorter one, too._

* * *

Going Under: Chapter 10

Trouble Comes in Pink and Black

Night had fallen over the ocean, and darkness along with it. Clementine had resisted the urge to attempt to build a fire; Kurues had even reasoned they could suspend it in the air somehow so it wouldn't melt the ice, or be put out by its dampness, but Argeth had halted the discussion with a blunt 'no'. The fire, admittedly, would be like a beacon in the darkness. The pirates could be on them, he said.

Clementine tried not to argue, and found she no longer had the strength. She sat down, gripping her thin elbows tight. Even if the pirates could see them they couldn't catch up on the current, could they? But then again, they could shoot...and that gull could get too close. She sighed, and turned her head.

Huddled by Kurues, beside the tree in the centre of the ship, the two newest members of their misfit crew where curled up close together; small toughs of soft fur. They used Kurues as a pillow of sorts, finding both warmth and comfort from curling at his side. He himself was asleep, having exhausted himself. His leg had yet to heal completely; Clementine insisted he let it do so.

So far, the ape boy had been the only one of them to utter a word, and it hadn't been much. They'd given the two some food and they ate wordlessly, before huddling like they did now.

The boy, whose name she had yet to discover, seemed at ease now, surprisingly. He was flexing his dexterous toes- or fingers- on each foot, looking thoughtful. The kangaroo joey, however, was quivering, peering around the unfamiliar ship timidly. She supposed it must look bazaar to her.

Clementine approached them quietly. "...Hey, you two."

The ape boy looked up and flashed that cocky grin of his, however more tiredly. "Hey, Bunny Lady. Sup?"

"You seem actually at ease." Clementine remarked with a twinge of her own grin, her tone a mix of admiration and disbelief. The ape shrugged, looking away and running one of his long hands through his messy head-hair.

"Well...ya know...still alive."

Clementine nodded, though wondered if he'd...seen the bodies littering the ocean. Luckily it was dark now, and the sight had long since passed. It stuck to her memory like tree sap, however, and she knew it was there to stay.

She turned her attention to the pink-red joey. She sat down beside her, slowly, and the girl watched her apprehensively. She fiddled with her paws, and glanced away.

"Hello..." Clementine said softly, offering a very small smile. Kurues snoozed on, undisturbed. The girl sniffed, picking at her nails.

"...H-hi..." She finally murmured back, not looking up. Clementine tilted her head,

"...It's awful, isn't it...?" She said slowly, shaking her head. "...When I was tossed out to sea...I really thought that was it for me...but it wasn't."

The girl looked at her, pale blue eyes watery and wide. "...How come ya g-got outa the water...?"

"Kurues helped me...he's a very brave elk." Clementine said, beaming a little. The girl, and the ape boy, who had been busy playing with a small stick during their talk, looked at the sleeping elk in question. The girl regarded his broken antler with a shiver.

"Did-ee get hurt...falling in...?" She whimpered, curling into herself a bit. Clementine placed a paw on her shoulder, to comfort her.

"...Yes...but he saved the rest of us. He found this ship we're on..." The ape boy's eyebrows raised high, and he seemed impressed. He looked away upon seeing Clementine was looking at him however.

"Great, another Clementine..." The doe scowled as Agreth waltzed by, carving a piece of the log the two youngsters had brought in with them. The ape boy's nose wrinkled and he waggled his tongue after him. Maut, hanging from the branches above, whooped quietly with laughter.

"So...what're your names?"

The ape child looked away once more. Clementine felt al little perplexed until Argeth spoke up again.

"Whatever past you have, you can pretty much forget it now. Word's kinda sinking in case you haven't noticed."

"...Argeth...not helping." Clementine said slowly, eyeing him over her shoulder. The armadillo scoffed, turning away once more- much to Clementine's relief.

"Says the dude with a past filled with-" Clementine stuffed a berry into Maut's mouth, as she had climbed down from the tree to sit with them. The joey was already afraid of her own shadow, last thing they needed was to mention the pirates.

"My name's Clementine." She said, smiling a bit. The ape boy giggled at seeing Maut's cheeks mimicking that of a chipmunks.

Cocoum's smile faded a tint, and he gave a small but nonchalant shrug. "Name's Cocoum."

The kangeroo child fiddled with her hands again, head bent. "M..m'name's Kai..."

"That's a pretty name." Clementine smiled at her encouragingly. Maut nodded, swallowing her cheerful of berry. Cocoum reached over to some apples, probably planning on stuffing his cheeks to copy her, but Argeth stepped in front of his way.

"We need to keep an eye on our stock." He said plainly as he bestowed upon the young ape a look of near authority, eyes looking down his nose at him. Cocoum's nose wrinkled in annoyance.

"Oh."

"Uh-huh." Argeth replied, dragging the net of food away from the little ape. He huffed, lying against Kurues's sleeping form.

Above, a pair of narrowed eyes watched them with detained malice. Silas had taken his time getting here; he found their little ship wasn't as far away from their own as they'd previously thought. And, he saw upon closer observation...their catch had expanded. A conniving grin slid onto his beak, and he hummed smoothly to himself; thoughtful. From here, he could see a small ape by the looks of him, the same as his very own Captain...only much smaller, and much, much less vicious. He chuckled. He wouldn't last long.

The other was also a youngling, a little kangaroo. He was not reminded of a certain Rasmussen, however, like the little ape reminded him of Gutt. What he saw was the equivalent of a shivering ball of red-pink fur. She wouldn't survive long.

They had never come across children on a bounty before; most children caught in the land breaking died quickly, and did not survive. He wondered if these foolish mammals understood that they had added two dead-weights to their already weak little crew. A hindrance.

Silas swooped backwards, and set course back to the pirate ship to deliver his information.

...

It was nearer morning than night when Silas returned; the sun had turned from black to a very deep shade of grey; and the mist was thinner than it was the day before. Raz opened an eye upon hearing the familiar fluttering of wings, and raised her head from where she'd lain to sleep for the night. Gutt knuckle-walked to Silas, his look still locked in a frown, but masked with expectancy.

Silas looked very, very pleased of himself, a pompous grin adorning his crooked beak, "The escapees have acquired more numbers. More mouths to feed their small supply to, Mon Cap-i-tan..."

Gutt didn't look as thrill with the news as Silas, dark eyes boring into the gull, "Forgive me, _Mister Silas, _If I don't see the profit in that..."

"Two children, Mon Capi-tan." Silas said, still smiling, but his eyes a little wary, knowing he better get to the point, "Too _weak_ to aid in a fight. A little kangaroo, and a little ape..."

The Captain had gone silence, his face set in a deep thoughtful poise. He moved his jaw absently, "Hmm..." Raz knew what he probably thought. Youngsters where too weak to fight, yes, but against those soft-hearted blighters, if one of them was threatened, what would they do?

Her long ear twitched a bit. Another kangaroo. Raz sniffed, laying down to rest again. She had to admit, she hadn't seen another of her kind for a lifetime, and even longer since she'd seen a joey. But it didn't mean she felt any companionship. This was sea-life. Kids didn't make it.

She felt no sympathy.

She fell asleep, letting Gutt work out a particularly nasty scheme. The ape had returned to the branches above, leaning his broad back against the springy wood of the higher trunk. He flicked his nails, examine each one with careful precision. He'd made sure to sharpen them for the occasion. Then, alone in the night, he chuckle quietly.

He knew just how to play with this situation; he read all of that bunch quite easily. Most of them would stop dead if they thought one of their new members was being threatened. Over-noble, like the elk, their heads locked in a mindset that was outdated. This was the world now. The strongest survive. There was no time for nurturing.

However...the armadillo probably knew what he'd do. He'd be ready for it, he grudgingly admitted. If he'd allowed two little tykes onto his meagre little ship, he probably would be working out some kind of plan to make sure they didn't hinder him.

_I know ya, Argeth...you act like the strong, stubborn hero, but I know ou're really out to save your own skin, and you're using them to do it...clever...that is, if it was going to work._

He knew exactly how to take him down a few pegs. He wouldn't kill him, he was certain, not yet. The armadillo was trying to build some ground, some form of security and some kind of plan...but it would be all for nothing. He'd make sure of it.

His gave a broad grin at the thought.

...

Argeth continued carving.

The others had all fallen into deep, dreamless sleeps, curled at the base of the fruit tree. Kurues had made himself into a living pillow; Maut curled on his forehead, snoozing, Glett at his side, the two younglings on his other, and Clementine beside them. He, however, remained aloof, perched up on a slab of ice and cutting at the wood he'd hacked off the new log.

The two newcomers where a problem. He knew better than to voice that fact, the rest of the gang would verbal assault him with how shameful he would sound. But, it was the truth.

He eyed them. They knew their names, sure, but not where they came from, or how a kangaroo joey got all the way out here. And he'd had enough of apes for a lifetime.

He'd seen how the ape boy in question had been able to drag them, and the large log, to the ship. He was strong, but Gutt could flatten him with his palm. The joey was worse than Clementine; at least she could heal. Rotten as he sounded in his mind, they weren't going to make the situation easier. Gutt would catch up, he was sure of it...and it wouldn't end well for them.

Especially if the ape brat waggled his tongue at him.

"Sup."

Oh Good Lord.

The child had appeared in his midst, sitting expectantly beside him. Argeth continued carving, not looking up. "It's late. You should sleep."

"How come you're...away from the others?" Cocoum asked plainly, fiddling with his feet. Argeth didn't hide his irked expression.

"I prefer my own company, especially when sleeping."

"Huh...fair enough."

A pause. Argeth didn't need a year to figure out the clear possibility that this child was going to be very, very annoying.

"...You know, I was lookin' around earlier...ya think we're near land?"

"Can't be. Not anymore anyway.." Argeth said plainly, cutting out a stubborn speck of wood from the carving in his hand. The ape shrugged,

"Huh...'cause I thought when gulls are about, there's usually land..."

Agreth's knife halted, and he went very, very still.

"Gull...?" His voice was flat. The ape child nodded vigorously, oblivious.

_"..._Aaaw _crud..."_


	11. Chapter 11

_More chapters, yay, a slightly longer one than the last..._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 11

Game On

Clementine was shaken out of the first actual bit sleep she'd gotten in days, if you didn't count being knocked clean out of consciousness by various pirates. She wouldn't miss waking up somewhere she hadn't been when she'd went out. Her eyes snapped open and lo and behold, Argeth was shaking her thin shoulders, his voice oddly hushed. "Wake up!"

The urgency in his tone made her ears stand on end, "Wh...?" She rubbed her face to rid herself of the feeling of sleep, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him grab Kurues's nose and shake his long head from side to side.

"Wake up!" He repeated, prodding his forehead continuously until the hoofed leader's eyes slid open, foggy still. They expanded upon seeing Argeth.

"What's going on?" He asked instantly, trying to stand but failing miserably. On one hand, it woke the others quite effectively; Maut fell off his head from where she'd been using his ear as a pillow, the little joey that had used him as a pillow also had been dislodged and torn from sleep with an audible 'yeep' of surprise, and Kurues's stiff, sore back leg made sure that he tumbled sideways into Glett, who grunted in alarm.

Argeth watched the tussle with folded arms and, to Clementine's alarm, a hastily tapping foot. He looked agitated. He had never been so, not even seeing _bodies _floating around the sea. She felt her heart sink, and looked around briefly to see what had startled him...and saw nothing.

Except young Cocoum, who was sat nearby, looking perplexed by Argeth's behaviour as much as she was. "Was it something I said...?"

"More like something you _didn't _say!" The armadillo snapped, making the little ape jump. Kurues coughed once, forcing his trembling stiff legs to steady.

"Argeth, could you _please-"_

_"The GULL was here!"_

Argeth stared at them, hands curled like claws gripping the very air in aggravation. Kurues's sentence was well and truly ended, his face frozen while his mind whirled with the implications. Clementine felt her stomach flip.

"They know how far we are..." She murmured, her hands giving a tremor. She clenched her fists, fingers digging into her palms to stop them. Argeth sniffed, turning his head.

"Yeah, and they also know we've got two kids with us. And they aren't exactly going to _help _the situation when we get caught!"

"_If _we get caught." Kurues returned sourly, locking gazes once more with him. They eyed each other down, Argeth fuming. Seeing no reply, the elk continued, "What did you want us to do, Argeth, leave them in the sea?"

"Of Course not." The armadillo sneered, waving an arm dismissively. He turned his back on him, massaging his lined face with a roughened hand. "I'm just saying that now we know we've got two helpless members to take care of. They'll take advantage..."

Clementine's fur bristled as her skin crawled. Behind her, the small joey whimpered in confusion.

"What's g-goin' on? What does 'ee mean? Who..." She looked up at Kurues helplessly, curling up a little where she sat. Nearby, Cocoum wasn't nearly as afraid, but he looked annoyed as he tried to follow the conversation,

"Wait, so that gull's a bad guy? What does he want? Our fruit?" He rose a dark little brow at them, and the group stared back. It was one of those times when no-one wished to explain, thus everyone waited until one person had the guts to do so.

Well, except Argeth. "...Pirates. They've been picking off every straddle that survives the land break."

The small ape stared at him, eyes wide and rather blank. Argeth folded his arms in a plain, lofty manner. "They will kill the weak ones and force the strong to work labour for them, and get rid of anyone who doesn't comply. They'll probably maim your annoying little hide after two sentences."

A heavy silence drifted over them. The boy didn't look like he was taking Argeth seriously and let off a faint grin, but something murky was lit in his green eyes. He was a bit unnerved by Argeth's words, and so where the rest. The little joey began whimpering. Clementine reached to stroke her soft head.

"Argeth..."

"She had to know otherwise she would have gone done quicker." The armadillo snapped back before she could finish. Clementine scowled, now, and he returned it with venom.

"Y-you s-said bad people are gonna get us..." Kai sniffed, looking at the armadillo with watery eyes. Kurues put his hoof down with a thud.

"That isn't going to happen. Argeth..." He glanced at the armadillo, but he didn't look back, "We need to form a plan here. The current is on our side, they can't catch up, can they?"

"The current will finish or slow down eventually. Not all of them go on forever." Argeth noted bluntly. Kurues sighed.

"Spare me the negativity for once, Argeth, and tell me straight if you have an idea." Maut, who was lounging on his head between his ears again, nodded once.

Argeth rolled his eyes, "All right. We need to break from the current, go a different way. Outrunning them won't work when we're on the same course, it's stupid..."

"So we turn, go anotha way, while they keep going all current-happy?" Maut elaborated, a brow raised haughtily. Argeth shrugged,

"Their glacier's bigger, it'll be harder for them to take it from the current. For now, though, the current's still going, I think we've got some time..."

"Can we go back ta sleep?" Maut asked hopefully, grinning. Argeth gave her a flat sort of look, cocking a brow.

"..I take that as a 'no'."

_Crash._

Clementine leaped off her feet and ended up turning at a ninety-degrees radios when she landed back on her feet. The joey and small ape gave yips of fright as the lightning flickered crudely around them. Thunder graced the darkened skies. Argeth shook his head at them, a faint grin plastered on his mug at their antics...but then that smile faded.

He'd seen something that the lightning had ignited from the darkness; something the darkness had coated from him. At the back of the ship, there was a vine...a vine that had been hooked onto their ship, and onto one of the floating ice blocks. He wondered when it had happened, because he certainly didn't see it that morning.

And, he realized, the ship had slowed down. If it hadn't, she wouldn't have felt so steady. His grin faltered.

_That blasted gull._

He leaped over and sliced through the vine, cutting them away from the unwanted weight that had been subtly pulling them back. Clementine stared, as did Kurues, looking confused.

"How'd that get there?"

"Three guesses...we're not as far from them as I thought." Argeth hissed. The thunder creaked above them, and the barely-lit sky of the early morning seemed horribly unwelcome all of a sudden. The lightning broke again, showering them in light...and the group's breath halted in their mouths.

The outline of the pirate ship was close by.

"Aaaaw naaaaw." Maut's voice rang out around them, breaking the silence that gripped them. Kurues's eyes bulged,

"We have to set up our catapult!"

Argeth kicked the plank of ice onto Glett's back without hesitation. Clementine ran to the small joey curled at the base of the tree and petted her head, then tying a lifeline around her stomach. The child began sobbing gently, too afraid to be louder.

"Wh-hat's 'appening...?" Clementine bit her lip, standing up as she looked back at the child.

"Don't worry, we're just going to have to move quickly...stay there, it'll be fine..." She darted over to Cocoum as Kurues kicked off pieces of ice from the ship that they didn't need, to decrease the weight o the current could carry them faster.

Something smacked into Kurues's head, hitting his eyelids and sending him stumbling. Clementine lifted her head and spotted the very same gull had swiped down to hinder them further. She caught his snide grin as he swooped upwards, and turned. Clementine felt her blood boil and reached down to pick up a small rock of ice, and toss it at him- but he spun in the air, dodging it easily.

Argeth was dragging a piece of ice onto the catapult; the pirate ship was getting closer somehow, braving the current. Clementine had no time to try and figure out how. "Argeth, the bird!"

"Shoot that pest down!" The armadillo called, and Maut gave a strangled sort of battle cry and hefted another shard of ice at the gull as he dived down towards them. He slid past it easily and pulled on Kurues's antler as he went by, this time sending the elk sprawling onto the ground, off balance.

He had the advantage; he knew balance and the wind, he could knock the largest being there off balance. They where inexperienced. Still, it didn't stop Clementine tossing yet another small piece of ice at him.

It bonked off his beak. Clementine felt a surge of victory, but it diminished quickly as his eyes narrowed on her. He sliced through the air down towards her and she backed away, not fast enough to outrun the attack...but then something small, black and agile leaped onto the tree and climbed as quickly as a squirrel, fluidly slipping onto a branch and smacking the bird in mid-dive.

There was a squawk. The bird crash-landed onto their berg, scraping against the surface to a dismal halt, stomach down. Clementine glanced upwards. Cocoum was hanging from the branches, grinning broadly.

Clementine gave a shaky laugh.

Argeth stepped in front of the dejected gull, arms folded, Maut hopping to the side of him, Clementine on the other. Slowly he drew up, a sneer upon his elongated beak.

"You do not have the _nerve t_o f-finish me..." He rasped, the air long been knocked from his body after belly-flopping onto the ice. Argeth seized his beak, clamping shut, and tightened his grip. The gull struggled, giving muffled squawks.

"Shut up, bird brain, you're _a hair _away from having me pluck every last feather from your body!" He hissed, knocking him away and releasing his beak. The gull gulped down a breath of air, but not before Clementine had swung a vine around him and tightened it, tying a knot with a final tug. He sent her a piercing look, and Clementine retorted with a scowl.

"Not bad, Kid..." Argeth called up to Cocoum, moving past him in the tree and the small joey, who curled up tighter into a small red-pink ball. Argeth stared back at the ship, which was getting closer. Not close enough to send their hooks, but close all the same.

"_Tatou fou. _You think you can escape us, _Mon ami?"_

The armadillo glared over his shoulder at the bird, Kurues doing the same. "You have no right to speak. You led them to us, you want us dead."

"_En effet." _He said, flashing a sly smile the elk's way, speaking quite haughtily despite his position. Clementine didn't ask what he meant; she guessed by his expression that he wasn't exactly arguing with their statement.

"Well I wouldn't me smirking, _Friend." _Argeth sneered, leaning on his dagger, that was now embedded in the icy floor, "What do you think your Captain would do to get his scout back? Without you he's pretty lost when it comes to sniffing out prey..."

An indignant look crossed the gull's face. "You do not _startle _me." He said in a shrill voice, pumping up his chest, "You are all _doomed."_

He said that rather happily. Clementine grimaced a bit. He glanced at her, a brow raised for no particular reason. Clementine gripped her arm, "...Wh-what're you looking at...?" She said, more nervy that firm. He chortled, looking away,

Surprisingly, Kai had appeared beside Kurues's leg, peering at the bird curiously. "Aw, the poor birdie fell down..." She murmured, apparently forgetting he'd signalled them out for attack. However, the group chuckled at his expense, as the most insulted, prissy look came onto his face at being addressed in that way.

_"Poorrr birdy?" _He repeated in a slurred accent, incredulous. Argeth actually chuckled and seized the end of his beak, giving it a shaky.

"Poor birdy indeed, Flipper-Feet. 'Cus I'm thinking you're our ticket out of this for now..."

The gull stared at him, eyes very wide.

...

"...Cap'in...ya may wanna see this..."

Raz was holding a spyglass up to her squinted eye. The shower of light rain and rippling waves hadn't been easy to see through, but after drifting closer to the smaller ship she'd finally got a good look at what was going on.

Gutt snatched the spyglass away from her and brought it up to his own eye, and his shoulders stiffened upon catching a glimpse of what she was talking about. Silas was hanging upside down from the ship's fruit tree; he couldn't clearly see him, but he was sure the blur of white, blue and red was him. His hair bristled in rage, but he didn't feel like breaking anything. No, he felt...challenged. A spark of elation lit in his chest at the idea of this little game Argeth was clearly deciding to play. Not that he would win; perhaps this tidily thought idea would buy them a day's worth of evasion yet. He gave a gruff, barely audible chuckle.

"_Nicely _played, Shorty...let's see what smarts gets you." He tossed the spyglass back to the kangaroo standing nearby, who definitely didn't look close to questioning him, and he strode back to the centre of the ship where the rest of his crew had gathered.

"Right, mates!" At the sound of his voice they straightened to attention, eyes on him. He grinned roughly to himself. He did love the hand of authority. "Our new friends have decided to try a hostage game with us..."

Shira looked perplexed as well as perhaps impressed; she clearly hadn't seen much nerve in the group. Gutt halted his pacing and turned to face the lot full on, a slight frown mixing in with his smirk,

"We'll give them their game, shall we?"

_"Argh!"_ The familiar growl of approval rang out simultaneously as the pirates agreed. Squint was snickering deviously to himself, twiddling his bonefish dagger in his fidgety little paws. Gutt wondered if he actually knew what he had in mind, but supposed he was more set on mauling something, which would be available eventually.

"Good." He turned away after that simple word, "Gupta! Fly the colours! Let them see we know their scheme."

"Course, Captain!" Uncontrolled chortles followed the badger as he scaled the mast, and bit into the very top to hang himself up as the flag. Gutt didn't need to tell them to prepare; Raz had already passed out newly sharpened weapons to the crew. He knuckle walked to the side of the ship, staring over with a hard frown, eyes set on the small ship in the not-so distance.

He could see, even from here, a small black blur leaping around the branches of the ship's tree. He frowned a little more deeply and rolled his eyes. He didn't notice Raz glancing at him once with a curious look.

The lightning flashed above them.

The rain had began to fall heavily, but Argeth could see the badger-made flag from afar; a fluttering black blur in the shape of a square..somewhat. The joey and small ape had returned to the base of the tree, huddled close as the rain began to patter down on them. The girl wailed softly.

The bird was swinging a little from the tree branches, upside down. Maut was enjoying her time pushing him to make sure he continued his swinging, shoving him now and again as payback. Kurues stood by Argeth, and of course, he looked a little less easy with the situation.

He spoke quietly, "We won't really...cause harm to him?"

Argeth sighed, shoulders sagging. Kurues continued, "I know he's wronged us, but that doesn't mean we should lower ourselves to his level."

"Save the talk for someone who cares. But, if it'll make you happy, I'll try to make sure it doesn't come to that." Argeth groaned, in an equally low voice so the bird didn't hear. Kurues smiled faintly.

"Good..."

Silas could feel his head begin to tingle after hanging upside down for so long. The lightning flickered once more, sending another chorus of sobs from the joey into the air. His eyes fluttered to the two youngsters at the base of the tree he was strung from. The ape boy had surprised him, though he'd never admit it...and now that the shock to his body had passed, he could feel his wing aching badly, and it felt odd sitting at his side. A rare surge of panic spread through his usually well-postured body. A broken wing would not settle lightly with Gutt...

He grimaced as he tried to move it; the bonds didn't make it any better. The rabbit doe, who was leaning against the tree beside the two younger crew members, seemed to look up at him. He eyed her with a sneer, and she watched back with a reluctant stare.

Her paw was set on a strange pack sitting at her hip. He didn't care what was in it; though admitted slight curiosity as she'd set some of it on fire and tossed it at the Captain.

Slowly, she looked away from him. Silas turned his beak away, too. He hoped every last one of them suffered for this indignity.

* * *

_Admit it, Silas had that one coming to him._


	12. Chapter 12

_This is the longest chapter I've ever written for an ice age story. Dang._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 12

Calamity is Nigh

When day finally broke, the group of survivors where drenched by rainwater and exhausted. None of them had gotten enough sleep and it was beginning to show. Kurues had insisted upon staying alert and on his feet, despite Clementine's constant complaints. Argeth, at last, seemed to be wavering in his stiff posture, his eyes looking a little bloodshot. Unlike them, he hadn't even gotten a snatch of sleep. The pirate ship was still the same distance away from them; somehow they'd slowed down. Perhaps they'd guessed their bird was stuck on board their ship.

The joey and the small ape where curled at the base of the tree, snoozing restlessly as Clementine paced. They'd fallen asleep from pure exhaustion, but her nerves wouldn't allow her to relax. Above, she heard a sultry chuckle.

She let out an exasperated breath, shoulders slumping. The gull obviously didn't get the hint.

"You seen nerrr-vous, _Mon petit madame._" He remarked smugly, "You and your _groupe _appear less invigorated than before."

"Maybe it's you presence that's doing that..." Clementine retorted, at the end of her rope with the pompous avian. She moved back to the small joey, who appeared a little more at ease, but still fiddling with her hands.

"How're you doing, Kai?"

"O-okay...But I'd be happia' if we where 'way from the bad people..." She mumbled. Silas snorted nearby, clearly not settling on being quiet.

"That will not be possible, little _timide un."_

"Would someone shut him up?" Argeth called from the back of the ship. He and Kurues where still eyeing the idle Pirate Ship, wondering just what they were playing at. Clementine couldn't help but feel they were contemplating on whether or not the bird was worth getting back...though with that wing she had a eerie feeling the plan could backfire. Gutt made it clear that anyone useless was the bottom of the sea's problem. Bird wings where particularly delicate; like legs of elks, deer and things like that...if it healed the wrong way it could be crippled forever.

Clementine's eyes flickered back to the bird, who was shifting his wing uncomfortably under his bonds. He didn't deserve her help nor her sympathy; he would have watched her die without a turn of a feather. But...

With an exasperated sigh she moved over to Argeth and Kurues. The armadillo regarded her with mild interest.

"His wing is damaged. If I don't fix it, Gutt might not want him back..." Clementine decided to be direct, glancing back at the bird in question. Argeth sneered,

"He doesn't deserve it."

"I know he doesn't...but he's our only bargaining chip and if he's useless to Gutt, he's useless to you..." She refrained from saying 'us' as she didn't like the way Argeth's mind worked, however effective. Kurues, she knew, was on her side immediately.

"She has a point, Argeth...besides...he can't exactly get away without his wings." The three of them peered over at the bird now. He spotted them after a few seconds and returned their looks with a narrowed glare, clearly wondering if they planned to finish him off.

Clementine approached him slowly, bringing out the herb already. She planned on doing this quickly. If it was broken, it probably had swelled by now. The herbs would bring that down. The bird shifted, eyeing her suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"I need to look at that wing." She spoke plainly, her voice low. He rose a brow, apparently not catching onto what she was and what she did. Cocoum gazed at her curiously. She gestured to him and he unwound the vine, lowering the bird to the ground. Instantly he scuttled to his azure feet, stumbling, but Argeth's blade appeared by his beak, effectively stopping any funny business. With a pompous flutter of his feathers and a sneer, he went still.

"Clementine is a healer." Kurues assured, having also moved over, "If we mean to return you, we mean to do it with you in appropriate shape."

The bird rolled his eyes at Kurues's proper tone, despite being rather snobby sounding himself. Clementine approached him and for a moment he tried to flinch away, but Argeth snarled like a hound, sending him still.

He did not try to hide his flinches when she applied the herbs in a strange kind of paste, and began binding the wing. He gave a short squawk, feeling her positioning the painful bone.

"Its sprained mostly, maybe just a tiny bit broken, so it'll heal...if you let it." Clementine had stopped herself from looking up at him, she was sure his face would cause her to try and slap him in the beak with his insufferableness.

She finished the splint and stepped away. The bird slowly moved his wing, almost curiously. He watched Clementine move away with an unreadable expression before his feet where bound tight by Argeth, and the vine hook to the tree. He wouldn't be waddling anywhere, either.

He shot Argeth a look that clearly wished him a painful death.

"What are we waiting for? Gutt to come close for a bargain?" Kurues murmured, watching the ship from afar. Argeth snorted,

"He saw the bird, he knows he's here..." As he spoke, however, the pirates' voices raised. His eyes narrowed slowly.

The ship began to turn a little, and finally moved closer. Kurues's pupils shrank, but Argeth held up a hand.

"Let them come."

Clementine had how calm he was. Cocoum leaped up into the tree, climbing to the highest branch to get a proper look of the ominous glacier. Maut hopped upon Clementine's shoulder and shared an uneasy glance with her.

Slowly, the ship drew nearer, until it was mere meters away. Elk ushered Kai behind the tree and out of sight, to spare her the ugly looks of them, no matter how far they were.

In an eerie déjà-vu, the pirates lined up alongside the short ice-carved side of the deck, eyeing them down with much less enthusiasm and more blood lust, cackles gone. Clementine swallowed slowly, and flexed her fingers. The kangaroo hopped into view, leaning on her spear as she leered down at her, looking vengeful, and Clementine just remembered she'd tossed a bunch of flaming herbs in the other females face. She glanced away from her apprehensively, and wished she hadn't.

The crazy buck whom she'd had the misfortune of catching the eye of had spotted her again. Instead of sending crooked grins her way to make her skin crawl, he was sending her a twitchy frown, eyes squinted and fingers drumming on the hilt of his dagger. Clearly he was getting sick of her escapes from him. Clementine felt sick, looking at her feet instead.

"Well, here we are again." The brutish yet feigned pleasant voice of the leading pirate called. Gutt was at the very end of the line, perched once more on the outer branch of the ship, looking less amused than the first time they'd seen him. His hair was ruffled more than ever; his eyes locked down on Argeth in particular. His nostrils where flaring just a bit, and it was clear the underlying fury was still present. "I'd have thought your little gang would have turned tail and run, but, you stuck around for the party."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Gutt." Argeth drawled slowly, hands behind his back."Let's not beat around the bush here..."

Gutt chuckled inwardly, not loudly, not whooping, a simple, low little chuckle, as if he was amused by the antics of a child. Needless to say Argeth sneered in response.

"I know the game you want, Shorty...what makes you think I'll leave you alone after this?" He leaned forward just a bit, and despite being meters away still, Clementine and Maut drew back.

"Nothing makes me think that." Argeth said, rocking back and forth on his heels and absently gazing everywhere but at Gutt, as if bored, "But I know you'd settle for a head start, maybe..."

Kuruess's jaw fell open but Argeth grabbed his muzzle to physically stop him from talking. The pirates looked taken aback, too, Clementine saw the jill share a glance with the saber-tooth, wondering just what Argeth was up to.

Gutt's face hadn't changed; the slight grin and narrowed eyes remained. "Ho-ho...I like your style...add some spice to the final battle, huh?"

Their chat was almost casual, "Of course." Argeth replied, but without smiling at all. He looked back at the bird, marched over, and cut the vine, dragging him by his beak over to the side of the ship. From above, Clementine heard a jubilant, warbling voice comment,

"'Ey, looks its Silas! Hiya Silas, back from 'oliday?"

She and Maut looked at each other, perplexed.

Argeth lifted...Silas by the beak, not too kindly, up into view of the pirates. Gutt was unfazed; though the rest of his bunch looked affronted, and their scowls deepened.

"Head start...we leave him on a little block of ice behind us, you come to get him. We get a day." Argeth said slowly, "Only after that day will we leave him on that block of ice. Got it? We can see you now the mist is up, so I'll know if you're following too soon."

Gutt's grin broadened slowly, "..All right, then...I'm a pirate of my word." He crossed his heart; his claws shifting slowly over his bulky chest. Argeth snorted, turning away and dragging Silas with him.

"Of course you are, Gutt. See you in a while."

"See ya soon..." Gutt waved a hand at his crew, gaze still locked on the back of the armadillo's head, and Clementine found the dark half-grin of his much worse than any furious expression. She saw the pirates thrown down their clamps onto floating pieces of glacier, using the same technique as them to slow themselves down. Clementine watched the ship slowly drift further away. Maut made an obscene gesture back at the pirates, and they hissed in response.

As they did, Clementine's eyes traitorously moved back to the buck. He was grinning at her again, snickering quietly to his mad little self. Then, he drew his tongue over his tooth and lower lip and then use his dagger to mimic slicing his own throat. Clementine stiffened and looked down.

Then, through the hateful silence filled with resentful gestures and looks, the giant elephant seal suddenly gave a loud, delighted laugh.

"Heey, I see a little monkey! 'E looks like the Cap'in? Can we keep 'im?"

Everyone raised their heads to look at the branches of the tree on the smaller ship. Cocoum was perched up, blinking uncertainly at being noticed. He seemed to suck his lips in a little, eyes wide as the pirates eyed him down. It had probably been decades since they'd seen a child, and probably felt seeing a miniature, non-threatening Gutt was very odd indeed.

Gutt himself glanced at the boy, who looked back with an air of curiosity. He was a giant compared in him, and perhaps for a second the boy look at him in awe. Gutt sent him a malicious sort of chuckle.

But, as the current picked up and pulled them away, almost out of sight to see facial expressions, Cocoum raised his hand to his nose and waggle his fingers, and crossing his eyes.

Argeth didn't need to see Gutt's face to know he wouldn't like that.

...

Surprisingly Gutt didn't follow them, and the ship went out of sight. The group took turns keeping an eye on the bird, who refused to say anything further to them for a full day. Night came and Clementine welcomed it, finally able to get some shut-eye and forget about the pirates. Argeth assured them that a day was all they needed to break away from the current and slip in another direction. He made sure the bird, Silas, did not hear.

Clementine worried, however. Gutt seemed to at ease with complying, and it set her suspicions high. But for now it seemed he wouldn't trouble them. The next evening they set Silas on a small floating block of ice. Clementine checked his wing one last time without looking him in the eye.

He gave an odd expression, between a sneer and a grin, she couldn't quite tell. "You are lucky...you have shown more use than first perceived."

If that was his attempt at a compliment, it failed. She didn't like how he said it at all. She looked at him, stepping away. "...I'll keep that in mind...goodbye."

_"Au revoir..." _

Clementine hopped easily back onto their ship, and they began drifting away, leaving him behind. Cocoum waved cheerily, grinning in a cheeky manner. Kai waved, too, gently.

"Bye Mista Birdie.." Clementine was sure she'd seen him huff before he disappeared out of sight among the floating bits of glacier.

The pirates would be coming for him now, and she knew he'd be there for some time before they got there. She found herself hoping he'd manage. Not that she liked him, but they had put him there, so it wasn't a good feeling.

"Thank the heavens tha' stuffy guy is _gone_." Maut said without regents, hanging from the branches, which Cocoum was careful to avoid knocking her from. Argeth sat down on the second log, lying on its side like a bench, and began sharpening his knife again. Kurues sat down for the night, flexing his shoulder.

"Well, Argeth, it worked out in the end."

"We'll turn the ship in the morning." Argeth replied rather than saying 'you are welcome.' The joey seemed a little more cheered now, sitting nibbling on an apple beside Kurues. Clementine sat down, too, breathing out.

She stretched her legs and allowed herself to lean against the log, closing her eyes to catch up on some more sleep. She pushed the ominous grins of the pirates out of her mind's eye, and fell into a hazy sleep.

Without a bird to guard and knowing the ship was far behind, they all rested for then night. Darkness fell, and through the clouds the moonlight tried its best to cast some illumination upon the restless seas.

...

_Clamp._

Clementine's whole body jerked and she snapped upright at the noise. A familiar, horribly familiar skull had embedded its teeth into the side of their ship. The force of the hit had send a tremor through the ice so heavy that it jostled them all awake. Argeth raised his head instantly, but not before Clementine gave a strangled shriek. The moonlight cast the shadow of the pirate ship, looming over them like a phantom in the night.

It was impossible. How had they gotten so close in such a short amount of time? It didn't make sense!

The ship was reeled quickly right up against the side of the formidable glazier, before any of them had gotten to their feet yet. Argeth whipped out his dagger, snarling in unhidden fury. Glett and Kurues shook themselves awake and they stared in horror up at the sight. They were so alarmed, so shocked, that none of them thought to fight back.

A bulky shape leaped from the side of the ship above, and landed with a heavy _slam _on their deck. Clementine squeaked and Maut yelled aloud when they saw Gutt himself had come down to greet them, wielding a crooked fishbone sword.

"_Ahoy _maties..." He growled in the lowest possibly voice, looming and giant in the darkness. The group trembled in his gaze, all sans Argeth, who wrinkled his nose in response. Gutt swung the blade down on him mercilessly, and with that power Clementine was sure Argeth would be cut in two- but he'd dodged to the side, rolled in an scaly ball before he could get him. Gutt laughed gruffly and went after him, slamming down the sword once more.

Kurues pounded his hooves and hunched his shoulders, ready for a charge at the ape. Calls from above sounded and Clementine clamped her hands over her mouth. Kai began wailing in fright.

The other pirates had swung down from their deck: The badger landed on Glett and slid down to attach his stubby head; the kangaroo landed before Clementine, twirling her spear with expert precision. Clementine saw it slice off small flakes from the ice on the floor.

"Let's see if yer fire save ye now." She snarled, brandishing her spear her way. Clementine stepped back instantly, heart pounding, and blood racing through her veins. Maut raised her working fists in a boxer fashion.

Kurues charged, letting out a battle-cry. He knocked over the kangaroo as he pounded by, he dislodged the badger as his antler slapped him from Glett's shell, and he sped right for the back of the giant ape Captain.

Gutt turned to look over his shoulder, his blade locked against Argeth's in a parry, and saw the elk coming his way. Kurues never got there.

The tiger pounced in front of him, bearing her fangs in a curt growl. Kurues skidded to a halt, eyes wide, knowing any other day he'd run. But, he gave a furious snort, pounding a hoof and readying for her attack.

The kangaroo had regained her balance, but no longer went for Clementine. She didn't stay around to wait for her recovery. She'd ran to the vines attatching their ships, hoping to cut them once again. She seized a sharp flint of wood from Argeth's stack and began sawing away, her elbow already beginning to hurt.

Then, someone hopped up onto the skull clamp, and Clementine gave a strangled gasp. The buck cackled upon seeing her, twirling his dagger n the air above his head.

"I'll have you _this _time, Pipsqueak..." Clementine stood, quivering, feeling sick...but then she saw the little joey huddled by the base of the fruit tree, whimpering helplessly, and above her Cocoum, holding tight to the branches and watching the fray with wide green eyes.

Clementine felt something boil in her chest, and it overpowered the cold trembling that buzzed through her. She looked back at the buck and clenched her fists in a scowl.

His grin wavered at being challenged, and his grip on the hilt of his dagger tightened. The two glowered at each other hatefully as the lightning passed through the skies, and Clementine leaped at him, clawing with inexperienced, blunt nails and soft paws. She and the buck hit the ground behind him, and instantly he began fighting back, reaching for her neck and grabbing at her wrist. She dodged the slicing of his knife and kicked him in the stomach; he gave a yelp of surprise and reeled back. Clementine gasped for breath, dodging him when he tried to tackle her, and shoved him aside. He'd dropped his dagger to the floor, and forgot it.

He leaped at her again, and the two of them rolled across the floor, hands flailing at each other as one of them tried to win the upper hand. Maut was screeching at them,

"Go Clemmy! Kick his crazy little butt!"

Clementine, however, turned her head to glance at the children- and the buck took his chance to leap at her with all his force. Clementine was knocked onto her back, him on top, and he stretched over to try and grab his dagger; lying nearby, while he had her still pinned. Clementine could not scream for help, the others were tussling with the pirates, and they had to fight the others. She squirmed, but he was too heavy to get off.

She saw him grab his dagger, and panicked. Her ideas dashed, she bit down hard onto his upper arm, and he gave a furious screech of pain. She kicked him off her, stumbling onto her feet and sprinting away. Her breath was all but spent, and the figures all moved around her, fighting. Kurues had blocked the jaws of the tiger with his antlers, bucking his legs at her. She reeled back before he could land a hit, growling. Argeth and Gutt's blades clanged, seeming the sound of bone against stone ringing through the stormy air, and Argeth's back hit against the tree.

Seeing the ape and the armadillo's fight come close, Kai squealed and darted from her refuge hiding place. Clementine called out for her to stop, but the joey paid no heed. Clementine's heart twisted in horror when she saw the elder kangaroo spot her, a look of faint surprise cross her flat muzzle before her eyes narrowed.

She was too far to stop her.

"Kai, _run!" _She screeched over the chaos. The panicked joey looked around to find her, crying softly, when the kangaroo hopped behind her in a low crouch, her eyes narrowed and expression remorseless. The tiny kangaroo looked over her shoulder and wailed, tried to scramble away.

Her little feet didn't carry her fast enough, and the pirate jill's paw caught her by the scruff, lifting her into the air and pulling her up close. Kai wriggled, crying helplessly, screwing her eyes shut and curling up like a kitten trying to shield itself. Clementine shuddered, her body stiff in horror.

The pirate jill lifted her other paw to the child's chin, hefting her head up as if to get a better look at her. Kai turned her head away, sobbing. The purple kangaroo shook her head just a little to herself, eyes narrowed.

Clementine forced her legs to move and began darting over, not knowing that she intended to do, but promising to do something...however, she forgot one thing. The buck.

Something slid past her ear, tearing some of the skin and drawing blood. She squealed, stumbling and clutching it, and stared to the left where the blade had been thrown from. The rabbit male was panting heavily, his arm bleeding from her bite. She hadn't thought she'd done that hard, but still.

He looked murderous.

"You are going _down." _He hissed, and he whipped over to her. Clementine barely had a second to think and simply jumped back as his blade swiped at her, and she ducked the next slice. Her luck would run out, she knew, and she was exhausted, more so than he was.

_"C-Clementine!" _

Her head whipped around. Kai had called for her, a screech of desperation so high-pitched and afraid it tore through her soul.

And made sure the buck got his opening. Clementine felt his arm wrap around her neck and pull her back against his chest in a locking hold; she squirmed and struggled, her heart pounding against the side of her chest.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't...

Cocoum saw Clementine from above in the trees, where the wind was howling and knocking against his body, threatening to knock him off. Argeth leaped away from Gutt's blade, and it sliced right into the wood, making the whole tree jerk to the side as he pulled it out again.

The small ape hadn't really seen an adult of his race before, never seen just what he'd grow up to be. If it was this, he was both impressed and scared by it. He swallowed, looking back at Clementine...and he felt something in his chest tighten in fright. Actual fright now.

Argeth made him promise to stay up here. But Clementine had gone limp in the arms of the buck, who dropped her to the ground once seeing she struggled no more. Kai's crying rang in the air, and he couldn't see her- the elk and the saber's battle blocked his sight.

He looked down.

Argeth gave a strangled _urk _as Gutt grabbed his throat; ending the sword play. The armadillo struggle violently as the ape's grip tightened and tightened, his teeth pulled back in a sneer-

A piece of apple bounced off his head. Gutt looked up, slowly, and spotted Cocoum in the branches above. The small ape stared back, his eyes broad and hands gripping the wood. Slowly, Gutt dropped the armadillo and gripped the trunk. Cocoum knew what he was going to do, and leaped higher into the branches as the other ape climbed up easily. Compared to him the height of the tree wasn't high at all; and he only needed one leap to be at eye-level with Cocoum.

The ape boy threw himself further away, onto a thin branch that hung over the side of the ship; precariously thin over the raging waves. Gutt snarled and reached, swiping his claws at him, but missed. Cocoum cringed, recoiling as far as possible.

Gutt slid down from the tree, leaving Argeth coughing on the ground, and something flashed in his eyes. He gave Cocoum a malicious little grin, the boy's eyes widened. He gripped the sides of the tree's trunk an heaved, and slowly, the wood began to tear like a leaf. Cocoum screeched in horror as he let go of the branch, and plummeted towards the water, the rain and wind whipping past his eyes-

Gutt's arm stretched out lazily, palm up, and caught the small ape as he fell. Cocoum's scream was cut off as the air was knocked from his lungs, the strong, long arm curling around him and pulling him back onto the deck. He began struggling in the older ape's grip, but couldn't possibly pry him off. He panted heavily, wordless, as he looked up at the Pirate Captain in apprehension. Gutt glanced down at him and let off an inward chuckle, curtly, and then turned his attention to Argeth.

Things had finally gone still. Argeth had gotten to his feet, a hand on his bruised, pained neck. He stared back at Gutt with silent loathing, knowing he was beaten. Cocoum didn't dare struggle further, his body quivering just slightly.

Kurues was surrounded once more, his chest heaving with exhaustion, the female tiger growing at him, daring him to try anything. Argeth looked at the elk, then at Glett, who was flanked by the elephant seal and badger, blades poking at his face.

His eyes turned to the male rabbit. He grinned manically back at him, nudging the doe at his feet with the end of his toe. Clementine's eyes were open by an inch, but where glazed over, almost as if in death. The kangaroo held little Kai in her arm, whimpering quietly, and she grazed the armadillo with a smug half-smirk upon seeing him look over.

Argeth sighed, slowly, and dropped his dagger to the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

_A nice shorter chapter ^^_

* * *

Going Under Chapter 13

Three Claw Marks Each

The last time they had been caught, unconsciousness had come over most of them, blessing them with a break between the tension, the fear, and the uncertainty. But there was no stalling this time; no introductions of messing around. Their assets frozen and options lost, the survivors were dragged onto the pirate ship above. Kurues was tugged along by various ropes around his neck and antlers, forcing him to walk to his own imprisonment, as Argeth, Maut and Clementine where simply tossed aboard like rags.

Clementine was awake, but the world felt hazy and her vision was foggy; like she was underwater. Her lungs seemed to think so too, as it was difficult to breath. She lay where she was; on her stomach, her cheek against the cool ice. Argeth and Maut lay on either side of her on deck, like gutted fish.

Kurues was forced down beside them, lined out, Glett next. Once the row of prisoners was forced to the ground, their limbs where bound tight and taught. Kurues's hooves where strapped together by a chortling badger, who then went on to tie Argeth's hands behind his back, as well as Maut's damaged wings, igniting a yelp of pain from the small bat. Clementine felt her arms being seized from behind and glanced back, spotting the buck was binding her wrists together. He gave a hard pull, tightening the vine cuffs painfully, and cackle as he dropped her back on her stomach. She heaved, coughing violently, the feeling in her limbs slowly returning.

"Clementine..." Kurues muttered, but his head was jerked forward again by the badger, who smirked smoothly at the row of prisoners like they were outside some kind of joke. Clementine didn't find this funny in the slightest.

Gutt had scaled the side of the pirate ship with ease, even with Cocoum held tight in his right arm. He vaulted onto the ship with a small thud, landing on a single fist to knuckle-walk over to the front of the row of survivors. Instantly they plastered glares upon their faces; Argeth out-glowering them all without even trying. Cocoum had the incentive to stay quiet, and Clementine was glad for that. He met her gaze, and the only thing giving away that he was terrified where how wide and unmoving his eyes where, and how still.

Kai, unfortunately, wasn't as sturdy. The tiny kangaroo was wrapped in the arms of the purple marsupial that Clementine was now regretting she'd burned. The rabbit doe felt she was being glared at in particular by her, and she could still see traces of singled fur around her eyelids. She was holding the wriggling joey tight and firm, though apparently not enough to harm her- yet. Kai was nestled in the crook of her arm; the paw on her other forearm gripping the child's wrist to stop her reaching out. Kai continued giving off small whines, and Clementine hadn't the strength to tell her to be calm, as this situation she was sure could be made worse by her cries.

The purple kill's nose wrinkled as she eyed Clementine down, her gaze not leaving her for an instant. The rabbit doe attempted to frown back at her, hoping this wasn't some kind of threat...but having a bad feeling that it was.

Gutt walked until he was right in front of Argeth; he armadillo lying humiliated on his stomach, at his feet. Argeth sneered the best he could, straining his neck to look up at him. Cocoum gulped quietly, glancing up at Gutt. He looked far too calm; a half-smirked sliding vaguely onto his face. Clementine sound see a spark in his eye that she'd seen in predators about to pounce on their prey.

Gutt leaned down so his eyes where mere inches from Argeth's. "_One Day_. I said I was A pirate of my word..." He crooned softly. The armadillo's face twisted in fury.

"Son of a-" Gutt's hand whipped out; and the sharp blade-like nails glinted in the dawning light of the early morning. Then they swiped at Argeth's face, and the sound of tearing flesh ripped through the air and through his cheek. Argeth's head jerked to the left, and Clementine glimpsed a full view of three elongated scars sinking across his cheek and along his large nose.

Her stomach heaved, and all he did was gag once, and hiss at the pain. Gutt scraped his nails along the icy floor of the berg, wiping off the majority of the red stains, and perhaps sharpening them further. He lifted a single finger, almost delicately, as if about to choose a berry from a bush.

"Now...who's _next_?" His smile was gone, and now he looked simply angry. The crew gathered around for the show cackled nastily at their expense, and Clementine cringed despite trying not to, gritting her teeth. She could hear the buck snickering madly amongst the laughter, but the kangaroo was smirking at her darkly, watching her still. She glared back defiantly, deciding not to give her nor the buck behind her somewhere the satisfaction.

Kair had stopped wriggling and gone quiet at last, staring at Argeth in horror. The pirate jill's grip on her tightened.

Clementine heard the jaws whip out once more and her head swivelled around. Kurues's cry reached her before the sight did, and her chest tightened. He'd received the scratches across his face as well; his handsome long muzzle horribly torn. Gleet grunted beside him- and Gutt shrugged, almost indifferently as if to say 'might as well' and slashed at his face; yet again three long red lines that sank deep into the flesh. Kurues's head had flopped down onto the ice, Glett's drooped as the two of them felt the horrible sting of pain. The crew crooned as if seeing a deliciously progressing act that got better by the hit.

Cocoum was frozen stiff, trapped still in the crook of the older ape's arm as he moved slowly but surely over to Clementine and Maut; the latter being next in time. Horror gripped her further; Maut being smaller that his fist. Gutt stopped, looming over them. His hair brows where raised up, contemplating, then he smirked and lifted a single claw.

Maut had gaped up at him wordlessly during the whole thing. Her head was turned to Clementine now, blue eyes big and wide, and Clementine could only stare back at her, hoping at least not looking at him, and at her, would help somehow.

The bat gave a screech when he sliced the same claw three times over her working wing. She then slumped like the others had, the pain burning through her, her body trembling. Clementine was last, and she lay frail thin and silent before Gutt, who stood over her, a giant. Clementine's breaths where shaky and she could only stare up at him weakly as he lifted all three claws, not a shimmer of remorse on his features.

She felt a horrible tearing sting spring up on her back as the nails tore through the skin and fur around her shoulder blades. Three scars each, she told herself as the pain numbed her body, leaving her slumped like the rest, three scars...everyone feels this, we all feel it, they're not crying are they?

"Think of this as a _tally mark_, Maties." Gutt spoke loud and clear, standing before the row of scarred animals, using a casual tone, "Each time you screw up, display _weakness, _or just plain get on my nerves, you get another." The crew grinned down at the group with malice, eyes twinkling as they seemed to close in on them even more.

"So if all you sorry excuses for shark-bait weevils do is _useless..."_ Gutt lifted a nearly plum, and tossed it into the air. With a single slice, it fluttered to the floor, in hundreds of tiny strands. "Then it won't be long until some of you become ribbons to hang on the branches." His voice progressed from cheery and casual to low and growl-like in seconds, and his eyes bore down on the group with unhidden threat. Maut, Glett and Clementine cringed, Argeth sneered to himself, not looking at him. Kurues, however, stared up at him with defiance plain on his scarred face.

Gutt noticed it. Clementine shuddered.

But instead of adding a few more scars to the face of the elk, Gutt reached to his own arm and gripped the thick hair at the back of Cocoum's neck, lifting him into the air. The small ape curled his arms and legs to his body, green eyes expanding drastically. Kurues could not form words, none of them could.

Gutt raised his free hand, brandishing his claws right before the small ape's bright green irises. His expression was very calm, pleasant even, feigning friendliness as he held a deadly arsenal of blades to a child's face.

"So how 'bout it, Junior? Where'd ya likes yours on your face?" He inquired plainly, as if offering nothing more threatening than directions. Cocoum gave a shaky laugh, glancing at the sharpened claws.

"U-uh...I'd rather not, thanks, red isn't my colour..."

Gutt regarded him, contemplating, and then he chuckled as if he'd said something genuinely funny, "You got nerve, Kiddo...a lotta nerve. I expected you to be a little more _scared."_

He drew one claw and pointed it directly under the boy's shin. Cocoum lifted his head as far away as he could, screwing his eyes shut, quivering just a little. Gutt saw he wasn't going to break, and with a grunt he tossed the boy away, sending him rolling across the cold surface and skidding against an icy slope nearby. Cocoum curled up, vivid eyes wide.

Gutt's attention had left him, and he turned to his crew, "Shira!"

The group looked to the female saber-tooth, named at last, as she lifted her head to attention, "Yes Captain?" Her voice was, as usual, very refined compared to that of the others.

"Make our new _helping _labour comfortable." He eyed Kurues and Glett as he said this. Shira smiled at them dryly.

"Aye, Aye sir..." With that, her violently sharp jaws catch onto Kurues's neck, not enough to hurt him seriously, but enough to drag him out of view. Glett, whose legs had been impossible to tie because of his shell, hobbled after them. The crew let him, cackling at his stupidity.

Gutt's grin remained as he barked out another name, "Mister Squint!"

Clementine watched, with a brow raised, as the grey buck that continuously tormented her in their every meeting whipped up like a blur of lightning in front of the ape.

"Aye Sir?" His dagger was aligned with his temple in a salute. Maut's nose wrinkled at the name, and Clementine had no words for it.

"The doe's all yours." Gutt's grin was specifically dark, "Do what you want with 'er." Clementine felt terror grip her once more where she lay, that hidden fear she'd had trapped in her mind returning. She realized how helpless she was and just how vulnerable, and she began quivering, losing her built-up nerve. Death would have been kinder, she was sure, as the fear sunk in.

The buck, or...Squint, if that was his name, looked back at her and gradually a grin set it as Gutt's sentence finished, "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of 'cool with me', Captain."

Maut had stared between Gutt, Clementine, and the male rabbit, her jaw hanging open in utter disbelief at their words, "Wha- no- Clemmy!"

Squint had bent down and seized the vines binding Clementine's arms to her sides, her fists having the same treatment. Clementine gave a small squeak, unable to struggle, and the crew broke out into another fit of chortles. Clementine felt sick.

The kangaroo, however, wasn't laughing, to her great surprise. She was scowling. Clementine got a glimpse of her as Squint dragged her away from the group, Argeth's head raising as if he'd just heard,

"Hey!" He barked, finally breaking the silence the group had held, though only him and Maut remained together. Gutt's long fingers reached out and seized his neck, squeezing tight. He choked.

"_You _will be getting some of the _discipline _treatment..." He hissed down at him, before tilting his head,

"Raz!"

"Aye?" Finally the kangaroo spoke, eyes moving away from Clementine and to the Captain. Gutt didn't look back at her, eyes glaring down at the armadillo. "Tie this runt to the front of the ship, see how long he goes without water."

"Aye, Cap'n..." Slowly, Raz bent down and released the joey in her arms, setting her down at the side of the ship. Kai curled away from her into a little ball, as soon as she was let go. Raz sniffed indifferently and seized Argeth's tail, dragging him along once Gutt released his neck. Cocoum shakily knuckle-walked to Kai's side, catching a glimpse of Argeth's look...it was serious, but unafraid. Clementine watched the two youngsters, feeling defeated, and then felt the buck tug on her bounds, dragging her along, her feet scraping across the ice. She half-heartedly tried to pull away, but he gave a simple cackle and jerked her along, bringing her away from the centre of the ship. Clementine had no idea what he planned to do...or she did, she had many ideas, she didn't know which one to expect from the crazed rabbit that threw daggers at people for enjoyment.

She sniffed gently, but did her best not to let him see her cry.

...

Razz tied yet another knott in the vines; the armadillo bound up like a caterpillar in a fresh cocoon. He regarded her with calm disdain. "So what's the plan, marsupial, you work us to death then peg off the kids into the ocean?" Raz pulled on the note with a meaningful yank.

"Ain't yer problem, you better keep your mind on survivin' for the next few days." She wasn't some weak-willed sap that had words get the better of her. He could guilt-trip her all day and she'd feel nothing but annoyance.

"Aren't you curious as to why Gutt passed up chance for new prey to come after me?" The armadillo inquired slowly. Raz would give him that; he was a smart bloke all right. But, she didn't give away any sign that she'd notice these words as significant.

"Cap'in's business is his business." She shrugged, adding another vine to his legs for good measure, "As fer the ankle-biters, hey wouldn' have lasted long anyway."

"I thought that pouch was full of weapons for a reason..." The armadillo commented, in a tone that hid way more than it let one. Razz scowled, then, glowering up at where he was tied to the ship's bow.

"What're ye implyin'?"

"Nothing...nothing at all." He said slowly, turning his scarred face away. Razz didn't know what he was talking about, but didn't like it. She resisted the urge to gag him and began hopping off, not looking back.

"Get comfortable, mate, yer gonna be there a while."


	14. Chapter 14

_Welp._

_The narwhals did it._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 13

Pirate's Death For Me

Cocoum lifted his head, his knuckles curled on the ice below him, and stared up at the looming adult ape before him. Gutt no longer seemed amused by him, nor seemed willing to play around. Cocoum idly wondered why any mother would name their child after something around your stomach, but he didn't ask just yet. Kai, seeing the ape so close, curled up into a little ball of red-pink fur. Cocoum gulped, having to crane his neck to meet the eyes of the Captain.

"Wh-what're you gonna do with us?" He asked, deciding to get the dreaded question out into the air. Gutt chuckled lowly,

"Right to the point, Junior? What's the hurry...?" In what was probably his effort to be intimidating, he leaned down to the eye level of the small ape, though couldn't quite manage it. It was close enough. Cocoum drew away, his back up again the wall of ice behind him, not liking the threatening pirate to be so close.

"H-heh, no real hurry, just wondering..." He forced a wobbly sort of smile. Gutt rose a hairy brow slowly, and raised a claw under the boy's chin. Cocoum stiffened, pressing himself against the ice as much as possible to avoid letting his check touch it.

"I wouldn't ask questions If I were you..." The Captain's voice was quiet and smooth, so only he could hear. Cocoum gave a single quiver. Gutt drew back his clawed finger curtly and Cocoum breathed in, rubbing his neck. He felt puny compared to him, and it was starting to nag at him. Kai, even smaller, gazed up at Gutt with frozen terror. Gutt frowned slowly,

"Every crew has its liability..." He commented, without any humour this time. Cocoum walked in front of her immediately, staring defiantly up at the older ape; lips pursed slightly and shoulders hunched. The other ape's grin returned.

"How cute, a hero." He remarked patronizingly, leaning back a little and tilting his head, studying Cocoum completely now. Cocoum hated that, but stayed perfectly still, not budging. He wasn't afraid, he told himself, not afraid of him. I can climb as fast as he can, any day. Then, to his surprise, Gutt reached out, palm up, offering his hand. Cocoum stared at it; three times bigger at least than his own soft digits.

"How strong d'ya think you are?" Gutt asked oily, flashing a broad grin. Cocoum forced a determined frown onto his face and reached out, gripping Gutt's hand. Immediately the older ape' expression changed to a more hostile one and he twisted; slamming Cocoum's small arm down on the ice. Cocoum fell to his side from the force of it. He blinked in surprise before trying to force the hand back, wrestling to make his muscles budge against the older's apes...but failing miserably. The members of his posse that had been watching snickered at the quick arm-wrestling game. Cocoum had been beat as if Gutt had been up against a flower.

Gutt laughed heartily now, not a subtly chuckle, and the crew joined him. Kai sniffed quietly, placing a hand on Cocoum's shoulder...but then saw his face was contorted in effort, and Gutt's laughter halted. He looked down. His own rough, large hand had been forced just a bit off the ice, Cocoum's palm pushing hard against his. The other pirates stared incredulously; the tiny ape had managed to go against Gutt's strength by the tiniest, tiniest bit...but that, in itself, was remarkable. Gutt scowled and tightened his grip; squeezing Cocoum's fingers painfully. The boy yelped, but Gutt released him seconds later.

The small ape rubbed his fingers unhappily in defeat. "No fair, you're bigger..." He mumbled. Gutt was eyeing him down with an expression torn between suspicion and seriousness.

Then, he turned and knuckle-walked away, Cocoum watched him go, eyes broadening. "Hey...hey, Gutt, whadda we do...?"

Gutt stopped, and sighed deeply, remaining with his back to the child. Cocoum went on, "Do we sit here, or..."

"That's 'Captain' to you, Junior. Since you just got here I'll let that lil' slip-up slide."

"But wha-"

Gutt had looked over his shoulder, eyes wide and piercing, lips twisted downwards in a furious glower. Cocoum's mouth shut and he sat down, quiet, in the corner of the ship with Kai. Seeing this, Gutt continued moving away.

"Good."

Cocoum wondered about this- them being left untied and without anyone really guarding him, as it seemed the other pirates had scuttled off to do some task that centred around manning the ship. Then, he realized, they had nowhere to run...if they tried to get back to their boat, they'd just be caught, easily. They were stuck.

"Th-thank y-you..." Kai's small voice called gently from beside him. He grinned widely.

"Don' mention it. Giant Pirates don't scare me." He did a backwards roll, hopping up onto the side of the ship with more agility than a squire. Kai stared up at him in wonder.

Then, something crept behind Cocoum, a black and white mammal twirling a bone in his hands. He hopped behind Cocoum, the child being bigger than him even at his age, and gave a loud whoop to scare him. Cocoum leaped back, sliding off the wall and tumbling along. The badger heaved with laughter, pointing down at him.

Kair had been started far worse, by both him and the bone in his paw. She turned and bounded clumsily away, giving small uneven little hops. Cocoum gasped loudly, reaching after her, "Kai, wait up-"

Another pair of feet landed right in front of the fleeing joey; and the tall, raggedly furred kangaroo straightened up, eyes boring down at the girl as she skidded to a halt at her large feet. Kai stared up, her shadow looming over her, and whimpered in fright.

The adult kangaroo's eyes narrowed as she glowered down at the joey, and she gave a plain remark. "_Going _somewhere, eh?"

Kai squealed and banked the opposite way, scrambling on little legs. Raz rolled her eyes and reached down, easily catching hold of the joey once more and lifting her up, "C'mere, you, I ain't gonna hurt ya..." She tried to keep a firm grip on the wriggling ball of fluff. Kai reluctantly went still, staring up at her with watery pale eyes. Raz shrugged indifferently. "That is, if ye don' annoy me."

Kai began sobbing again, curling up, little fists tight against her chest as she wept. Raz gave an silent, exasperated sigh, and looked tempted to simply drop the joey. Cocoum came pounding over on little knuckles, leaping at her leg and latching on,

"Let 'er go, Giant Bunny Lady!"

Raz gave an indignant snort at being called such a thing, giving her leg a single jerk and effectively knocking the ape boy off her. "Call me that again, Ankle biter, and I'll pitch the two 'o yeah off the side!"

"Master Raz!"

The kangaroo glanced skyward and saw the Captain leaning from the vines above. She cocked her head to the side with a sense of foreboding. "Aye, Cap'in?"

"Keep an eye on our easily jumped little friend." Cocoum glanced at Kai quietly, knowing he meant her. His tone wasn't nice at all. The kangaroo did not argue, though she slowly turned her head to send a faint glare down at the joey in her arms. Kai sniffed, a tear spilling over her cheek. Raz spoke up once more as Gutt navigated through the vines,

"Whada 'bout the otha' one?" She glanced at the ape boy with disdain. Gutt snorted, sending Cocoum a faint but mocking grin,

"I think he's smart enough to stay outa trouble on his own...aren't you, Junior?" He drawled, before swinging off. Cocoum watched him go with a pouty glare.

...

Clementine had been dragged to a more secluded part of the ship; at the back, where a bulky formation of ice made up the helm and taller walls. She had been pulled across the icy ground and her horror had built with every second, and her frail, runt-born form was shaking uncontrollably. She made no sound other than her frantic breathing.

Squint, as he had apparently been named, threw her forwards against the ice wall in front of him. Clementine gave a brief wheeze as she hit the floor, before pivoting her head to look at him. Her ears bent back against her skull and dangled by her shoulders as he approached, grinning a mangled grin, his dagger poised once again in his paw. Clementine couldn't stop a sob escaping her and she scrambled as far against the wall as possible, and lay curled into herself, "P-Please..."

Squint's nose twitched and he cocked his head to the side, still hovering over her, "Oh, what, so ya get to bite my arm off and get off with 'please' girlie?" He spun his dagger twice in his scrawny wrist, giving a wry laugh. Clementine curled tighter into a ball, shoulders shaking. He knelt down, still grinning, though his eyes where narrowed now. He prodded her arm with his blade and she shivered, feeling the cold bone against her fur.

"Doncha remember, Pipsqueak? Captain said you're all _mine." _Clementine, her face quivering with defeated anguish, forced a brief, bitter glare at him, sniffing. She hated the way he said it, and it scared her, again. She wanted him away from her, not this close, and the fact he wouldn't only made her fear grow.

"Well I'm not...Get away from m-me..." She whispered, curling up, her back to him. He made a small indignant noise, like a tiny grunt or catch of breath. Clementine felt tears prickle in her eyes and she closed him, awaiting the worst with dread. She tried to focus on something, anything else.

She felt his paw seize her shoulder roughly and turn her over, to face him where he knelt and she slay. She couldn't handle it; she hated herself, but lost her nerve. "N-no, don't, _please...!"_

To her great surprise, and relief, he let go, stepping back clumsily, as he had been knelling down. He rose a crooked brow at her, but she didn't look at him anymore, curling up once more on her side, trying to stop shaking. She cried quietly to herself, having had far too much. She'd never felt more hopeless; the time she had been tossed into the waters, into the cold ocean and half-drowned, seemed more hopeful.

Almost cautiously, he approached again, knelling back down and leaning over her to try and glimpse her face, to catch her eye. The closeness made Clementine flinch away again, eyes screwed shut. Apparently getting the message, he slowly drew back, a brow still lifted and his nose wrinkled.

He hopped up onto a slab of ice; crossing one leg over the other and folding his arms, back hunched as he peered over at her. "What's your problem?"

"I'm not something for y-you to...p-play with for your enjoyment. Or a p-prize." She sniffled after a moment, remaining huddled up like a lost puppy. "Don't touch me ever again..."

Squint glared at her plainly, arms still folded against his chest. His nose wrinkled a little more in annoyance at being ordered about...then slowly, his glower morphed. His ears lifted and his arms slipped down his chest slightly; his eyes slowly, slowly widened. And it clicked.

He recoiled in disgust, paws up in front of him, face contorting in disdain and knees curled. "Whoa-Whoa-whoa, you're not mine in- in _that _way! I'm not interested in that stuff, no way!"

He realized, with growing mortification, how it looked. And it was bad. And not just for her, but for him, and it made him feel like gagging and banging his head up against the glacier's hardest accumulated wall. "Urgh, naw." He added, turning away a little.

The rabbit doe turned her head to him, sniffing, her cheeks still stained and damp with tears. She looked wobbly, yet the shivering had stopped. "Wh-why did you d-drag me here...?" She asked, her voice blank, "W-where you p-planning to hurt me...?"

Squint has his chin rested on his left palm; his elbow propped up on his knee. A slight grin returned to his face, and he saw fear flicker on hers again. "Not really."

"Not...really?" She repeated, shifting back a little. Squint's grin broadened and he reached to the side, scooping up a handful of dried starfish and smaller darts. Fun time.

He tossed a starfish her way; it twanged into the ice just above her head. She squeaked, ducking as flakes of the sliced wall drifted onto her forehead. Squint heaved with laughter, her face had been too much for him. He lifted a small dagger next, grinning at her madly, and the doe curled up, giving a short yelp as he hurled it at the side of her shoulder.

"Where's your burning leaves now, Girlie?" He jeered, embedding another starfish by her ear. She gave another squeak and scrambled to the left the best she could manage in her tied up state.

"Cut it out!"

His response was a mangled bark of laughter and another starfish above her forehead.

...

Argeth could feel the pain of his face spread from the sting of the slashes deep down into the muscles of his jaw. He lay still, his eyelids having slung shut long ago, his body numb and stiff as it was bound tight in merciless vines.

He breathed out, slowly, and in, smelling the salt of the sea; the dampness of the air. It was almost humid compared to the old times, to when snow was everywhere...when the ground was cool and snow always fluttered past his eyes; the land stiff in place, sturdy and still...covered in ice.

_Argeth was running through the blizzard, through the greyness that seemed to go on forever. Snow plummeted past him, behind him, around him, and the howling winds pushed at him, trying to knock him back. He didn't look back, but didn't need to in order to know his footprints where being covered by the heavy flakes that fell around him; deadly purity, deadly white._

_Voices began to call at him; one haunting and distant, high-pitched and soft a child younger than himself. And another, angry and condemning, roughened yet youthful...the voice of his best friend, that he was trying to either get to through the blizzard...or get away from. He didn't know which anymore._

_His eyes where becoming clouded; filled with flakes of white. Didn't know which..._


	15. Chapter 15

_Welp._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 15

Show You How to Pirate

Clementine's body had grown stiff and sore from the bonds that kept her tussled up like a fish on land for the whole day now. The sun was setting; however it was hard to tell due to how cloudy it was. Ironically the sea seemed to have calm itself once they where well and truly defeated.

Squint had spent a good majority of that time making sure she had no piece or rest; every second he'd toss another blade or starfish at her to make her jump. Eventually, Clementine grew less and less startled by the slicing sounds about her head and grew more and more aggravated. She curled up as yet another blade struck the ice above her, Squint seeming more lethargic with his game, lounging back against the ice, a leg crossed over the other and his cheek leant against his palm. Clementine gave a small exhale, trying to calm her nerves.

"Had enough, girlie?" Squint remarked, eyes locked on his victim with merry malice. Clementine glanced at him, exhausted and drained.

"Depends on what _your _definition is..." She mumbled. Squint snickered to himself, folding his arms behind his back and lying against the ice, apparently relaxed. Clementine noted...his guard was down. She was surprised at herself; noting such a thing, she couldn't help but feel she was beginning to think like Argeth or Kurues.

She glanced at the fish-bone knife at his side. Sharp, oddly sturdy, hurt probably if it hit someone. She wasn't going to reach it from here. She shifted her wrists; her fragile skin rubbed against the tight leafy fabric and didn't loosen. She lowered her head.

Squint didn't seem to notice her fidgeting, and swooped up another dried starfish with a smirk. Clementine ducked her head, but his throw was interrupted. Someone, one of the other pirates, was calling for him. He stiffened, nose giving a twitch, and hopped onto his feet. He strode over to Clementine and yanked her up by the vine tied around her arms, leering down at her,

"Don't try anything, Girlie, I'll be right back." He dropped her unceremoniously onto the floor again. Clementine braced herself for the impact, landing on her side as he sauntered away with a final cackle.

Clementine shuffled back up into a sitting position, ears slumped drearily past her eyes. She shifted her paw again, could not loosen the vines. She stared around her, then looked up at the dried starfish still embedded above her head in the ice. Her ears lifted, and she attempted to get onto her feet; but couldn't manage, they were too stuff. She tried using her ears to pry it out, but to no avail. The doe gave a sigh of frustration...then heard something scuttle around above her. She lifted her head.

A trio of raggedy purple rats, striped and skinny, where tip-toeing along the high wall of the helm, in single file. One of them looked down and nudged his fellow sneak, and they all peered down at her with mild curiosity mixed with what Clementine was sure was ridicule.

She tried not to frown, giving a single tug on her bonds. "...Can you help me?" She asked, her voice husky, her throat and mouth dry from the lack of water. They rats seemed surprised she'd even considered requesting their help, and they glanced around at each other.

One seemed to mime something, like a shrug, then waved his arms, making incoherent squeaks. The tallest one raised his hands to his face, and gave a mock squeal, and Clementine realized with a blink that he was miming getting burnt in the face. Apparently she'd had an audience.

They looked down at her again, peering with bulging eyes. Then, one slid down the icy blocks that made up the helm, and landed with a hop in front of her. The others shrugged and followed suit. Clementine didn't know if they meant to help or not, and watched them warily.

Then one grabbed a flint of wood sitting by a pile of weapons and began sawing away at the bindings around her upper arm, and Clementine's eyes widened. He sawed fast and steady, almost too much so to look real, and the vine snapped. She flexed her shoulders and felt him slice the bonds on her wrists behind her. Clementine stood, stumbling on her feet a little. Her body screamed with pain; aching all over, her back stinging after the scars on her back had been disturbed.

The rats looked at her expectantly, one of them jumping up and down. She smiled uncertainly at the trio. "...Thank you..." She noticed how expectant they looked, and wondered, "...I'll probably have to use fire again sometime soon, I'll keep you posted."

They seemed delighted at that, grinning toothily. They scampered off quickly and out of sight; Clementine waving gently after them. She looked down, glad to see her pack had luckily still been left at her side. She stretched.

She thought quickly after that. Squint would be back, and he'd waste no time revealing to everyone else in his crew that she was loose. She had to find Argeth; if anyone had a out-of-the box plan to get out of here it was him.

She moved ducked down low and hastened away from the back of the ship, taking care to slide behind piles of bounty. She could see the other crew members now; the tiger was berating Kurues and Glett...she couldn't quite hear the conversation, but by Gutt's words she guessed they were being forced to work.

Her head turned quickly. Cocoum was wandering around the corner of the deck, peering up and along, curious. Her heart gave a leap and she looked around for Kai...and spotted the tall kangaroo, Raz if she remembered, was moving along the side of the deck with the small joey tucked under her arm. Kai was quivering, clearly not at ease with her.

To her relief Raz placed the joey down, leaving her curled up against a slab of ice. She then sat down and pulled something out of her pouch- and Clementine tensed upon seeing a sharp weapon, of which she began sharpening further. Kair remained at her side, whimpering, and then quietly and slowly tried to crawl away- only to have the adult jill spot her and tug her back, scowling.

Kai cried softly, once again curling into a ball. Raz rolled her eyes and went back to her weapon-sharpening. Clementine wished she could go to Kai, but it was impossible. She had to find Argeth...

Wait, where on earth was Maut?"

" _Vous batte stupide!" _A loathsomely snobbish voice sneered, "Stop your chattering!"

"I'll you more than chatta' you double-crossin', blue-footed _boob!"_

Oh there she is.

Clementine lifted her head and sure enough, Maut was strung upside on a branch, ironically like the gull beside her had been back on their ship. She wasn't making it easier for him, swinging and trying to smack into him with her body along; turning herself into a little dark fist. Silas was on the branch beside the hanging bat, scowling in a displeased manner. Clementine supposed she wasn't in any real danger; in fact she felt the bird should watch himself.

She supposed the winged female had been shoved on scout duty...but with both their wings broken, and her being rowdy, Clementine supposed they left her stung up.

Clementine dove from another pile to use as cover, luckily not being spotted. She saw Argeth nowhere around here; she reasoned that he had to be at the front of the ship.

There was a crash, and she turned her head in alarm. Cocoum had apparently tripped into a pile of weapons, sending them scattering over the deck. The little ape was on his side, blinking in confusion. he pirates all turned their heads to see. Clementine saw her chance and, thanking Cocoum's oblivious wandering, rushed from her hiding spot and to the front of the ship.

Her breath caught in her throat. Argeth was tied to the bow of the ship; at its very point, in so many vines and so many knots she couldn't possibly free him fast enough. She ducked behind another slab of ice, but it was small, she wouldn't be covered for long.

She panting in fright, nerves building. Argeth's eyes opened by a crack and spotted her.

"...Hand me something sharp...I'll cut myself loose...over time." His voice was so low she had to strain even her long ears to hear it. Hands quaking, she snatched up an idle dried starfish that lay nearby and tucked it into his hand; though it seemed as immobilised as the rest of him. As she reached to give it to him, she had to lean over the side of the ship a little...and below, circling the ship like vultures...where sea-creatures. Large fish...no...she'd heard of wales, could this be them? Wales with giant _horns _sprouting from their heads. They swam speedily through the water. Clementine stared, perplexed.

"B-bide your time." Argeth hissed quickly, eyes a little more open now, "Try to survive while I think of a plan."

Clementine's heart sank that he didn't already have one, but she didn't complain. "I-I'll t-try..."

A familiar fish-bone dagger hit the ground beside her foot. Her head jerked to the side and she saw Squint had spotted her, his face twisted into a scowl. Clementine leaped immediately, scrambling over the slab of ice and kicking off from it, sprinting away. He gave a battle-cry and bounded after her.

Clementine shoved past the badger who gaped as he went by; the crew more alarmed than ready to do anything. However, the kangaroo smacked her spear down in front of her moments later, and Clementine surely heard Kai weep from somewhere by her foot.

A starfish hit the ground by her foot again and Clementine bounced over the spear's head, avoiding any more tosses and ignoring Raz's look of surprise. She landed in a clumsily roll and grabbed along the floor for anything to fend off the crazy buck...and an idea came to her when her paw grabbed something that was surely wood.

As she stood up she hefted the branch onto her shoulder and dived a paw into her pack, grabbing both a sharp flint of stone and some less important leaves, and dragging them out as the buck hopped a few yards in front of her, sneering.

With fumbling but not hesitant hands, she scraped the flint along the wood and stuffed the leaves onto its end...the result was the end bursting into flame. There was a trio of high-pitched whoops from the rats, who where hopping up and down like disorganised cheerleaders.

Squint's head was tilted back, nostrils flared and eyes broad in complete confusion. Clementine held the burning branch out in front of her, breathing shakily,

"Come near me again and I _swear _I'll be giving you a batch of '_reverse healing'."_

Maut laughed, a laugh so powerful she could barely catch her breath. She whooped, swinging slowly on her branch, and Silas tilted his head, wearing the same expression of alarm that everyone else was using.

Squint's ears had stood on end in fury at being challenged by her once more, and he whipped his paw back to flatten them down and dripped his dagger, "_I'll show you Reverse healing, Girlie!"_

He flew through the air and Clementine raised the flaming bat up, tightening her grip- and Squint was seized in a large black-furred fist. Clementine gasped, her grip loosening, as Gutt tossed Squint away like a broken tool. He gave a yelp and landed nearby.

The ape didn't look amused, and turned his large head her way. With a humourless snort, he snatched the fiery branch away and snapped it, diminishing the fire in his palm, not flinching once. Clementine clamped her paws over her mouth, frozen stiff in terror, and a second later her stomach flared with pain and she was on her side; her vision blurred and her hearing muffled. She was vaguely aware that something was leaking from her stomach, and she realized, slowly, that she'd received another three claw marks across her abdomen.

She heard her friends calling her name, muffled and faint as her body ached. Friends...

How strange...

Cocoum bounded over to Clementine's slide, skidding to a halt on sore, pink knuckles. He didn't dare touch her, looking uncertain. "Clementine...?" He asked, quietly, before a low chuckle made his head turn. Gutt regarded him with mock sympathy,

"Too bad, Junior, I don't think she can hear you." He remarked frankly, before turning to knuckle-walk away from the stunned crew and prisoners. Kai was by Raz's foot, her mouth covered by her little paw as she watched Clementine with grief. She hopped over, stumbling over Raz's foot to the doe. Raz, a frown ever present, moved to her and Cocoum, prodding Clementine with her toe.

"She'll life, Ankle-biters, don' go cryin'. Folk who cry don' survive long 'ere." She leaned on her spear nonchalantly. Clementine gave a small moan, shifting where she lay. She turned her head and looked up at Raz in a groggy fashion. The jill cocked a brow,

"Ye got a penchant for burnin' things."

"Herbs are more my thing." The doe replied, forcing herself up. Squint wandered over, looking aggravated yet apparently having to keep himself less crazed. Clementine shuffled away from him, but he prodded her in the back, shoving her along Clementine had no choice but to allowed herself to be herded off, glancing back at the children apologetically, looking defeated.

Cocoum's jaw hung open and he slowly turned back to look up at Raz.

"...Did ya see that? The burning branch thing...? That's called being _awesome." _

Raz's nose wrinkled as she didn't really agree with the comment. Out of the corner of her sharp eye she spotted the red-pink joey had once again tried to creep away, little fists curled against her chest in a jittery fashion. She slammed her spear down in front of her, and the child yelped, reeling back and losing her balance. She tripped over Raz's long foot and landed on her back, staring up at the looming weapon's master.

Raz's patience with the tiny thing had just about worn thin enough, and she gave an unkindly sneer, not caring how young or small she was. "If ye try ta sneak off one more time yer gonna regret it, understand?"

The joey only whimpered, lip trembling. Raz scoffed and leaned down, plucking her up by the scruff and hoisting her up to eye level, forehead knocking against hers.

"Ah _said _do ye understand?"

Finally the waif nodded, fresh tears leaking down her cheeks. "Y-ye m-mean..."

"I'm a pirate, lil' joey. Ya need to toughen up a little..." Raz tucked her into the crook of her arm, leaving her hand free to hold her spear. She gave the small ape a warning glance before returning to the spot she'd been before, intending to work on the weapons. The joey was leant against her chest, but trembling. Raz mused that it felt like holding a shaking ball of warm fur. The way she held the joey, she knew, was in no way gentle or comforting or cuddly. It wasn't meant to be.

So she was glad to set her down again, giving a look that just dared her to try to run off again. She didn't want to have to cart her back again; the joey could barely hop around without tripping over something...

Speaking of, she wondered why the ape boy hadn't been keelhauled for knocking over that weapon's stack.


	16. Chapter 16

_Another chapter, slightly smaller._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 16

Cold Winds Blew

Clementine was nudged and prodded towards the back of the ship once more. She tried to walk steadily, but the scars on her abdomen where stinging violently, gradually increasing in pain. She wrapped her arms around herself, assuring herself she'd work on it with a herb as soon as Squint left her be. However, she doubted that would be happening anytime soon. Squint shoved her back against the ice formation that made up the back of the ship, and she smacked against the ice. Her air was knocked from her lungs and she fell to her knees.

"That's what you get for showin' me up!" He spat, waving his blade her way. Clementine wasn't hurt by his shove, but curled to herself with a bitterly faint glare, not facing him nor looking his way. Her wounds continued screaming in pain, and she reached into her pack and brought out some herbs. Squint leaped forward, and she froze.

"No fire, Girlie!" He snapped, pointing the tip of the bone right under her chin. Clementine slowly, slowly raised her paws.

"...They're healing herbs...for the claw marks. That's all..." She was amazed she'd managed to stop her voice wavering, that fear had returned to her. He wouldn't do anything unsavoury nor enough to kill her, but he could still hurt her if he saw fit. No one in the crew would exactly try to stop him.

Squint clearly didn't see the connection between little leaves and healing; in fact most animals didn't. She'd gotten weird looks for her concoctions in the past. Clementine remained still, hoping he'd leave her be for once. He slowly removed the edge of the blade away, and she breathed out.

Almost on autopilot, she dragged out her wooden bowl and pallet to grind the herbs into a paste, adding some water. The sea had splashed a few puddles aboard; it wasn't hard. Squint sat nearby playing with his dagger, eyeing her in an unnerving fashion. She did her best to ignore him.

"So...those things ya put on the bird's wing and that bat's arm-thing..." He scratched the side of his head with the tip of his blade; not the safest route but oh well, "Is that supposed to make 'em heal faster?"

"Yes. Puts the bones back into position and keeps them there to mend. Moving it slows it down..." She mumbled absently, and gritted her teeth for the hard part. Feeling oddly embarrassed and exposed, she coated her scars in the paste and cringed as they stung, horribly. She gave a small whimper and gripped the wooden pallet she'd made in agony.

Slowly, it subsided, and she lay against the wall, huffing a single breath. Squint was looking at her, his face lopsided as usual, as if she was the insane rabbit on the ship and not him. She sniffed, wiping her face with the back of her paw.

"What do your lot plan to do with us anyway? Why are we here?"

Squint's grin returned and he sat down, digging his bone knife into the ice beside him and leaning his arm on it. "Well, the Captain picks up the ones he thinks are useful...like that elk, maybe. But the rest of you won't last long..."

Clementine felt something cold rush through her body, and she drew her knees up against her sore stomach. "...Why not get rid of us now, then?" She ventured. Squint's grin broadened, eyes glinting maliciously.

"Oh, It wouldn't be fun that way."

Clementine shuddered, though her face twitched into a frown. Her terror of this buck had depleted into disgust; though it was still very much there. Her mind flashed back to Argeth, who planned to slowly cut his way free. Maybe it was just because he was here and she wanted to be defiant, but she felt a little spark of hope...maybe they wouldn't die.

She curled back against the wall, intending to rest while he seemed to have gotten bored of tormenting her. Her eyes drooped slowly. She hoped Kai would hold up long enough for Argeth to form a plan behind Gutt's back, same for Kurues and his leg...if they didn't, things could get more complicated.

...

Kai returned Maut's waved as the bat navigated the vines above with the air of a tight-rope walker; Silas, who she had come to know the gull as, was watching the latter with disdain at the childish behaviour. The small joey looked over her shoulder, up at the formidable purple adult that had kept her from running away. She shivered, looking away. The adult wasn't gentle and it was scary when she grabbed her. She didn't like her, she knew, and tried to keep as quiet as possible.

The large pointy weapons in her paws frightened her, too. Vaguely she had been reminded of her mother...though this jill wasn't cuddly and comforting. Kai didn't want to be hurt by her or her sharp sticks.

She wondered where Clementine was. The doe had been nice, and soft, and seeing her get hurt made the joey tremble. Cocoum wasn't scared; in fact he was climbing up the tree trunk slowly. She stared, watching him curiously.

She looked higher, and trembled once again. The giant, bigger than any animal she'd ever seen and just as scary, was eyeing Cocoum darkly, clearly not wanting him on his tree tops. Cocoum didn't seen him, he continued hopping up further and further.

Cocoum gripped the tough wood with strong but soft fingers, grunting shortly. He shimmed a little higher, aiming to get to the top and maybe swinging along the vines. And, perhaps knock a certain snobbish gull off of them, too.

He reached the first branch, high above, and swung onto it, albeit a little clumsily. He held tight, and peered down, seeing Kair gazing up at him. He waved, and she waved back, a little blankly.

He raised his head and looked over the ocean. And it was ocean, lots of it, no land in sight. He found himself staring quietly, holding onto the branch with all four hands. The wind began to pick up, and it was cold, and bitter. He was used to the trees blocking that cold breeze, but there was nothing but equally cold water to let it pass.

Something snapped; a tearing sound bringing him out of his thoughts. Cocoum turned quickly to see what it was- and spotted the giant elephant seal had fallen somehow; and knocked right into a triangular stack of fish-bones as tall as the small ape. They tipped over, knocking a taller pile to the side- and the windows clattered over the deck; the smaller ones flying out-

Kai gave a squeal and Cocoum's grip on the branch almost slipped. The little joey reeled back, a scratch across her soft cheek, caused by a flying dagger gone astray. It wasn't bad, but it was enough to terrify her. She began crying, holding his blooded cheek. Cocoum felt his insides flip.

Something moved above him; the branches creaking. He ducked with a gasp of alarm as Gutt swung past him onto a nearby vine, his feet clinging to the trunk opposite him and he glared down at the scene with a less than pleased expression. Cocoum didn't like his look,

"Get those picked _up _Blubber-Brain!" He berated the elephant seal, who clamped his flippers over his head in child-life shame. With a grunt the ape turned his gaze to the weeping joey and her eye-rolling sitter.

"Master Raz." He called, his voice slow, "_Disapline _the liability and make sure she has somethin' to cry about." With that he swung back up onto the top of the tree opposite Cocoum, done with his orders and his patience. Cocoum felt as though his stomach had been frozen, and found he couldn't move, couldn't let go of the branch.

He watched in stiff alarm as Raz slowly turned back to the joey, regarding her with an unreadable glare. Kai stared up at her, giving little squeaks, and she reached down and seized her wrist, tugging her along. She had to bend her long back to do it; the joey being so small and hard to lead along. Kai scraped her feet against the floor to stop herself being pulled, but to no avail. The crew watched, keeping their mouths such, knowing the Captain was in a foul move. They did nothing he help the small joey.

Cocoum breathed in and followed from above, swinging as fast as he could without slipping, suddenly feeling the height had increased and the drop far more scary.

Raz tugged the little thing away from the deck and the prying eyes of the crew, and tossed her forward, letting go. The red-pink girl's back hit against a wooden stump. She didn't have time to move before Raz twirled her spear and held it right at her frail little chest, her face still set in a wordless frown. Kai kicked her little legs, trying to ease herself as far back as possibly, but it didn't do much. Her breathing was near hysterical; coming out in tiny squeaks like a mouse caught in the grip of a cat and nearing the end.

Raz's eyes bore down on her, and her grip on her trusty spear tightened. She exhaled slowly through her large nose, slowly bringing the point of her spear closer.

"Warn'd ye, tyke. This is 'ow ye learn."

She would never learn. From above can a high-pitched yell of fury as Cocoum swung in, his feet grabbing the spear and yanking it to the side. He released the vine and landed, gripping with his hands, and tugging violently. The force of the tug wrenched the spear right out of her paws and he lifted it as if it were no heavier than a pin.

Raz clenched her fists and gave a snarl...but it was not her who reacted. Gutt swung down and landed between them with a heavy, formidable thud that made the entire crew jump Cocoum reeled back, still holding the spear. Not experience enough to walk properly on only three hands, he stumbled. Gutt's face was a mixture of a snarl and a condescending smirk, and he loomed over the boy with a terrifying air,

"You've crossed the line, Junior." Cocoum gulped heavily, and pointed the spear at him. Gutt chuckled inwardly and grabbed it, whipping it from his hands with ease and tossing it over his shoulder to Raz, his arm swinging back to knock Cocoum clean into the air.

The small ape flew across deck, slamming into the side of the ship with an audible thud. His body felt numb at the collision, and he lay on his side as Gutt knuckle-walked over to him. Helpless, Cocoum watched him get closer, and grabbed him by the hair at the back of his neck. One moment he was on deck, the next he was dangling over the side; hanging from his fist over the ocean. Below him, circling like hungry sharks, where a bunch of whales with horns formed at the ends of their heads.

"Ah!"

The crew had gathered around, jeering and chortling, watching with relish as the small ape squirmed. Gutt was watching him with a grin, clearly enjoying this. Kai was shivering by the stump still. Raz had forgotten her, instead snickering as she watched the small ape get his just desserts.

Kai had the perfect opportunity to escape, to do something, but she could not. Maut was screaming abuse from the vines above, unable to escape- as it seemed Silas had slammed a foot down on her. Kai pushed herself to her wobbly feet, scuttling past Raz, who spotted her with a scowl. Kai squeaked, calling over the backs of the pirates,

"No, don't hurt my friend!" She pleaded, her body trembling worse than a leaf. Their heads turned to her in mild surprise; Gutt regarding her with a furrowed brow.

Wordlessly, he tossed Cocoum back on deck, and he collided with her, sending both of them sprawling onto the floor. The crew once again broke into grins.

"Some nerve and humility at last." Gutt remarked point-blank, as if observing the weather. He hoisted his heavy body back up into the treetops, "Let's keep it that way."

Kai sniffed quietly, curling at Cocoum's side. The small ape blinked to himself. "Huh."

The two of them where seize by the feet and hoisted into the air, meeting a pair of angry kangaroo eyes. Cocoum grinned broadly in response; Kai once again sniffed unhappily.

"Pull somethin' like tha' again, and the two o' ye will become dinner fer the narwhals." Raz informed then in a blunt manner. She dropped the small ape, watching him flip in the air and land on his palms with a cheesy smile plastered onto his face. "An' you..." She looke at Kai, prodding her nose harshly, "Ye escaped death by a hair jus' now. Hope you realize tha'..."

She lowered the curled up joey to the floor and released her. Kai dropped onto her back, rubbing her face to rid her cheeks from tears. Raz fiddled with the point of her spear, and the joey gave another small shudder. Raz's lips twitched in a smirk.

"Don' worry. I recon seeing yer friend almost get eaten's enuff." She turned and hopped back to the weapon's piles to continued her work. "Get yer lil' self ova here, I ain't gonna carry ye."

Kai slowly came back and plopped down nearby her, head bent. Cocoum and her shared a quiet glance before he shakily knuckle-walked away.

...

The sun was setting behind the heartlessly grey, uncaring clouds. Argeth's fingers where numb, roughened and sore for the constant sawing, small strokes working at the vine gradually and slowly. He was patient, he kept working. He didn't stop, not since Clementine gave him the flint to work with.

_The cave he called home was warm and cosy; leaves scattered about the floors to soften the rough stone and comfort his feet. Along the walls, little pictures had been scratched into the smooth rock; shapes he couldn't quite make out. Outside the blizzard roared and the wind bellowed; the wind could not make it into the cave, sweeping past it, unable to reach him._

_A voice, however, called in the blizzard, out in the cold. Argeth shuffled, soft hands wringing themselves tight. He didn't want to go out to the cold, he could get lost..._

_Yet it called to him._

No.

He wouldn't go back.

He wouldn't remember.

_He wouldn't. _


	17. Chapter 17

_A shorter chapter because I'm slowing down. Worked on my other fic a bit._

_Hopefully you still enjoy ^^ Please review._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 17

Ice Upon The air

The cold winds held no mercy for those who had not grown accustomed to its chill; the sea held no trees, no tall rocks, nothing to shelter wayward animals from the bitter cold that whooped above the churning waters. Darkness had fallen over the pirate ship and Clementine found herself huddled against the icy wall of the helm. The cold did nothing to help her healing wounds; the bleeding long stopped and the flesh closed, but exposed to harsh chill it pained her still.

She curled tighter, shuddering. She hated these winds; they seemed worse than the blizzards she vaguely remembered from childhood. At least then there had been things to shield herself from then; a burrow or a tree, something...but the icy formation of the ship didn't help. Squint didn't look too bothered by the cold; she noted he even had a thicker if not ragged looking pelt. He was fiddling with his fish-bone weapon, not looking at her for once, perhaps assuming she was asleep. Clementine knew she had to bide her time and wait for Argeth, but she had no idea how Kurues and Glett where; if the former's leg was okay...

She rubbed her nose, heaving a sigh. She'd never felt impatience, perhaps because she never had anything in her life to feel impatient about. She wanted to do something, not sit here, a useless prisoner...

Her head lifted as she spotted someone walking- or rather waddling- around to the small area the two rabbits where in. Squint's head lifted almost too quickly to see it happening. "Whatcha want, gull?"

Clementine blinked stupidly. It was indeed Silas; his face adorning a self-assured scowl, looking like he'd rather not be doing...whatever it was he was doing. He turned that sneering look to the male rabbit with dislike. "None of your bus-in-ess."

He turned his head to Clementine, and she was surprised to see him shuffle awkwardly. "I do not know what this...thing you put on my wing is..." He glanced down at it with equal dislike, "But that bat of yours dislodged it and the pain is irritating me."

Clementine wondered what nerve he had to be coming to her like this...but suddenly an idea sprang to her. Once again, she berated herself for thinking like Argeth. She stood slowly, her paw on her stomach, and moved over to him. Wordlessly she gripped the splint and moved it back into place, ignoring his yelp of pain, and fastened it once more.

"I wouldn't fight with crazy bat women while I was healing If I were you." Clementine remarked coolly, not meeting his eye. She strode back to her spot by the wall, sitting down with difficultly as her scars pained her still. Squint was looking at her as if she was an alien again.

The bird, however, eyed her with a scowl before his brows raised, and he seemed to straighten up, "Well, _mon petit fleur, _you may be more useful than the Cap-i-tan and I suspected..." He remarked this with an oily tone, clearly not as complimentary as it should have been. "Your skills are...surprisingly effective." Clementine retorted with a frown.

"I'm sure they have."

Silas sniffed, though still retained a smug smile before waddling off. He looked rather silly like that, but appeared to think he looked very refined. Clementine watched him go in silence, ignoring Squint's scrutinising scowl.

...

Raz leant her sturdy back against the ice in a slumped sort of sit; her paws folded over her stomach and her eyes drooped shut. She usually rested her by the canons; a small fancy of hers. She could hear Gupta snorting quietly from nearby, Flynn not so quietly. She'd grown far used to it by now, and the chilly air bothered her nose. She was half asleep already.

Then the joey began whimpering again. Raz heaved a heavy sigh of exasperation. Did the brat never quieten down? It wasn't _that _cold. Granted, most joeys her size barely left their mother's pouches, though she couldn't quite remember. She hadn't seen a member of her kind nor a youngling of it for far too long to be sure, and to care.

Raz stirred once; but kept her eyes shut, intending to ignore the soft sniffling as the winds blew by. However, the joey kept up her whimpering. The jill felt her relaxed state depleting by the second, and reluctantly opened her eyes a tad.

The red-pink ball of fluff was curled nearby her; trying to keep warm while whimpering gently. Raz regarded her with disdain. She was really everything she disliked; dependent on others, whiny, spineless and clumsily. Raz hated depending on others; disliked help. For as long as she could remember that had been the case.

She glared over at her, "Still yippin' like a dying mouse, are ye? Gettin tired, 'ere, an' I need ma sleep if ye don' mind."

The child jerked as if she'd hit her, biting down on her lip, eyes screwed shut. The silence that followed was satisfactory, and Raz closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep at last. Then, sniffing replaced the whimpering and she opened her eyes again, giving up.

Another sigh.

The joey was looking back at her now, as if pleading, eyes spilling over with tears. Raz didn't have any sympathy. "What's yer problem, eh?"

The girl stared at her, shaking per usual, and it took a full minute for her to build up the nerve to answer. "C-cold..." Raz rolled her eyes once more.

"Ye better get used ta it." She turned away a little, onto her side, and closed her eyes once more. The joey gave a single sob, clearly not aiming on sleeping. Raz brought a paw to her face and rubbed slowly.

She lifted her head around to look at her once more, mulling over possible solutions, like gagging her or stuffing her in the tree stump to block out the noise. But, if she woke up more members of the crew, Raz would be blamed for it. She had no way of warming her either...

The last idea made her sneer in disdain. Nurturing was a pandering thing that she disliked hearing about or even seeing; she looked after herself and expected others to do the same. If you didn't you might as well get eaten or die of the cold. The strongest survive.

She watched the joey shiver with annoyance. She felt overthrown with indignity, and disgusted. She forced herself to roll her eyes, as if that would somehow shrug off how stupid the thing she was about to do was, and reached over. The tiny thing had the sense not to run or squirm away; but whimpered as the kangaroo plucked her up and brought her to her chest. Raz almost smirked at how wide her eyes where; she'd probably been expecting a mauling.

She was, really, freezing cold. It was like plunging her paws into the cold night sea while holding a small ice clump. Raz slowly lowered the joey away from her chest and stiffly lifted the hem of her pouch; she'd made sure there were so weapons left in the bottom, and slipped the shivering joey inside. "In ya go."

Her voice came out far more blank that she expected. The joey had gone still, very still, but by instinct her shivering stopped her Raz saw her little eyes droop almost immediately at the familiarity; little ears still poking out. Raz poked them once.

"Breath a word 'bout this an' I'll skin ye..." She felt strange, very strange, not with the weight in her pouch; she'd carried far heavier weapons, but her pride had been pulled at and she didn't like it. She thanked the fact she woke up first most mornings to get rid of the kid before anyone else woke up and saw...

The joey in question didn't appear to hear her, sleeping comfortably in her pouch. Raz shook her head and crossed her paws over his chest once more, closing her eyes and trying to forget she was there, slipping into sleep.

...

Pretending to sleep was hard when you where so agitated and frustrated that you wanted to kick something. Since they had started their labour Kurues and Glett had been tailed by the tiger; not once did she let them out of her sight. She lay nearby, looking refined and calm even in her sleep; her formidable paws crossed below her head. If he moved he was sure she'd be up in seconds. He wrinkled his nose, and his face hurt at the muscle movement.

No word for Clementine or Argeth; he hadn't managed to catch the doe's eye during her frantic flee from her male captor and the incident with the fire branch. His leg had began to hurt horribly and he did his best to ignore it. Luckily for him the tiger hadn't noticed this...it would be overboard for him he was sure.

He sighed quietly and tried to figure out the facts. Gutt was only going to keep the useful ones for an extended period of time...including himself, Argeth, perhaps Glett. Clementine...well. After the gull had his splint- as she called it- fixed, he'd gone to the ape Captain above. He had a feeling she may be winning herself more time. Cocoum had a little strength, but compared to Gutt it was nothing...and another ape on board... long term, if years passed, he could grow to rival Gutt. And judging by the annoying game he seemed to want to play with the older ape, Kurues didn't see him or the timid Kai lasting long on the list. They didn't have much time.

Maut, he didn't know if she clarified as weak or strong in their eyes, what with her wing broken. He supposed they themselves didn't know.

Slowly, something lowered by his ear. "Psst. Elk."

His head turned. Speak of the devil. Maut had shimmed down a vine nearby with her good, yet scarred, wing. She turned her head to him, "I've been keepin' an eye out. Argeth's been sawing at his bonds with a lil' flint Clementine gave him...I think they got a plan goin'."

Kurues remained still, trying to be logical. All right, Argeth getting free without them knowing was a giant advantage. They had their guard down with him, it seemed, no one was guarded his tied up self at the point of the ship. But escaping was another matter...

"We'll wait it out...see if he and Clementine figure something out. Glett and I can't strategise working all day..." He muttered bitterly. "Tell Clementine we know if you can, and...er, don't tell Cocoum."

"The kid, why?" Maut rose a brow. Kurues breathed in,

"Let's just say I have a feeling it would be a bad idea."

...

The vine that had tied his wrists fell from around his sore skin and to the ground. His hands where a little more free; but the rest of his body was still tied. His arms ached with effort; his fingers worse. But he turned the flint in his hand, undeterred.

He'd heard a lot of commotion, he hoped the others where keeping the pirates preoccupied. Either Gutt had grown stupid or jus far too confident. This was too easy. Argeth supposed he felt invincible now that they were stuck on his ship; but with every authority or oppression comes cracks to slip through, and he would find them.

He continued working on the vines.

...

_The canyon looked bare. No snow had fallen in; the rocks above had protected the inside from the wind that carried the slow. It was a crack; a large crevice-shaped shelter. He and his best friend usually hung around here. They would slide down the slopes nearby; they where made of dust so it didn't hurt or scrape._

_His friend would get down much quicker when he wanted to; he could navigate the vehicle walls as easily as walking along the ones beneath his feet. Argeth envied him deep down, and was always amazed...but instead he'd fold his arms and roll his eyes, calling up to him that he was nothing more than a show-off._

_His friend would say it was charmingly funny, how he could roll into a little ball and bounce from place to place quicker than he would on two legs. He didn't find his ability funny. He'd turn himself into a living dodge-ball and launch himself at his head, just to mess up his ridiculous hair. Now that was something to laugh about, Argeth would think._

_He recalled those less playful days when they'd sit on their backs and look at the skies above. That is, when it wasn't snowing like crazy. Argeth sometimes saw shapes, but didn't point them out. His friend would, though he saw things that were more obvious, like circles._

_Argeth could have sworn he'd seen something that looked like one of those humans; distant creatures that his mother described as bipedal monkeys with no hair apart from their head. But, the rest of the thing he saw had what looked something like a dear's body. _

_He mentioned this once, but his friend had looked at him as if he where insane. He didn't point out anything he thought he saw again._

_He didn't ever worry when his friend began pointing out scarier sounding things, like two tigers fighting each other. He supposed he just like fights as time went on, they were getting older and he was a completive bloke. He never noticed anything at all._

_He noticed everything now._


	18. Chapter 18

_I said in a previous note that my head was buzzing with different ideas on what I could do with Ice Age Pirate stories. This started off as a re-vamp, which it will remain, but to keep it interesting and not just a re-write (which it is not meant to be, but an AU really, ) I have to add in new things and change things...which, I'm sorry to say, means another 'new' character aside from Kai, maybe two. They started off from separate ideas and nagged at me, so maybe I'll go with them. _

_Also, the chapter after this is where things get darker, and much more violent. Gutt's no pushover and he won't let the gang think that. Of course I won't make the fic depressing or so hopeless it becomes a horror, as these characters will be light-hearted sometimes, I need to leave the humor and witness of the last fic behind to create more drama._

_I tend to brush off drama bits with humor; like the incident with Squint and Clementine ended that way, which I felt a bit anticlimactic doing. So. I'm gonna try not to._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 18

Plotting

When the night drew deep, and the darkness thick, the sea had grown restless once more. Clementine had not seen actual sunshine for what felt like decades now; but never had she seen such darkness. She could barely see a few feet in front of her, and the rainwater made sure she could not light a fire.

A crack of thunder made her awaken; a tremor seemed to ripple though the whole ship. She sat, curled and soaked, wondering what could have possibly caused it...then she remembered the land. Did the tremors travel all the way out to sea? She had no idea.

However, her mind was now flocked with images of what could be happening far, far away. Land collapsing, animals falling to their deaths. Fresh meat perhaps clinging to the ice, much like them, waiting to be picked off by the pirates.

She hated the thought. Then another came to her; now that they had been caught and practically enslaved, what was to stop them continuing on their way? Would they be around to see it happening, another plunder...?

She glanced down at the claws adorning her frail stomach. After a while, she realized why she wasn't trembling like a leaf in fear. She'd expected worse. Not of them where dead yet...she berated herself for underestimating these pirates. Then again, she'd expected far worse from Squint; he'd seemingly had every intention to harm her, or worse things, yet he hadn't. The scratch on her ear wasn't what she would call a maiming.

Had she not known better she would have said the pirates where more bark than bite...but Argeth seemed certain that they were far worse than they appeared. Clementine breathed in, trying to steady her shivering body from the cold. Maybe they just hadn't come to it yet; the real bad part of them. But how could someone like Squint, who she was beginning to take as more foolish than deadly, worry Argeth?

Well, he didn't. Gutt worried Argeth, obviously...Gutt worried Clementine, too. So maybe, she thought, these pirates didn't appear that threatening because Gutt didn't wish them to. But if he wanted something bad to happen and for them to do it...maybe they would...

Clementine closed her eyes, exhausted, and promised herself that no matter what, she wouldn't let her guard down. She tried not to listen to the thunder above and in the distance, as she was sure to was an echo of the destruction of a world she once knew.

...

Kurues watched the tiger with a lethal stare. She was prowling slowly around the deck; her eyes off him for the time being. Perhaps the feline still had a hatred of water at heart; seeing as the rain bothered her precious fur. Kurues had no such penchant. He had shuffled closer and closer to the side of the ship, aiming to look over, access their surroundings, perhaps see something. The last time a storm like this had raged, debris of land had floated their way to the current. Perhaps something among the rubble would provide their salvation.

He'd managed to get close to the short wall of the sides, but not enough to look over. He remained still as if asleep. He wondered how Argeth was doing with those bonds of his; it was just their second day on this hellish glacier and already it felt like a month...

He glanced upwards, then back down...then up again. Maut was gesturing down at him. Luckily the wind wasn't too strong, her slight body would have been knocked off the vine. She mimicked cutting an invisible rope around her wrists and gave a thumbs up, her expression clouded by the dark, but he was sure she was grinning.

For a second he thought Argeth got free, but then remembered he was still tied up pretty much everyone else. His wrists free was a start, though, he tried to remain optimistic...

He quickly closed his eyes again.

"Hear that, hooves...?" A sultry and mocking voice called to him; his red-brown eyes snapped open to look up at the saber. She held her head high with the air of someone who knew more than him. A faint frown slipped onto his face,

"The thunder?"

"...It's not thunder. Its the sound of the world cracking, both above and below..." Shira said casually, though it was clear she was not. "Though it's too far to reach. So don't get your hopes up."

"How can you be sure it's not just thunder...?" He asked, and she gave an inward snort,

"You really think it's going to be just thunder in this age, Warrior Horns?"

"They're _antlers_." She had a point, but his dislike was growing. She chuckled mockingly, shaking her head and bearing an infuriatingly soft smile,

"Aw, yeah...Hard to tell since parts have fallen off." She crooned softy. Kurues heaved a sigh,

"So...you are telling me the land is cracking why...? You clearly no longer care about it." He had a bad feeling in his stomach, though. Shira's smile had faded, to a less amused and emotional one.

"Let's just say you and your little ragtag team where an exception from most catches. Gutt has a personal grudge with that big-nosed stiff." Kurues's eyes narrowed, and he decided to throw his own jab. She had wrecked his shoulder, after all,

"But you have no larger idea on what that knowledge is than us, do you?" He felt a smile tug at his lip, but he didn't allow it to spread. Shira gave him a dark look.

"You won't be so calm-faced and witty when the next catch floats in." She said, quietly, turning to prowl away with her back stiff. "You'll get to see first-hand why your armadillo pal's so worried about Gutt."

"He's not afraid of Gutt, an neither am I." Kurues never thought he'd feel such a surge of loyalty for the armadillo, how they fought so often. But they where comrades now. Us against them, like Argeth had said. Shira regarded him with indifference.

"...You will be."

She padded off, leaving him. Kurues wondered if this meant he was unguarded, an slowly shifted to the side of the ship; and leaned his head over the side. He saw his reflection rippling; the darkness thick, no moon, yet somehow a little dim light seemed to remain. Perhaps morning was closer than he'd thought.

Maybe this 'next catch' would be their way out. Others trapped on a glacier could help them out, provide a vessel to travel on. But...those narwhals where a problem, a very big problem. The surprise attack Gutt used had been sneakily effective; they had no sea creatures on their side. Kurues sighed, placing his chin on the ice and resting it. Setbacks, setbacks...

He turned his head, hearing someone walking by. For a second he thought he'd see the tiger, but it was the male rabbit, trotting by. His back was hunched, he never seemed to stand too straight. He scowled,

"...What did you do with Clementine?" He hissed at him, not too loud, but sharp enough for his floppy ears to hear. Squint stiffened, and spun around to face him, blade hefted up and pointed his way.

"None of your business, prisoner." He snickered a bit at the elk's furious expression. Kurues gritted his not-so threatening teeth.

"I _swear _if you-"

"I haven't done anything!" Squint retorted in a snap, glaring at him with his lopsided, crooked face. It made Kurues scowl, his face. "You stiffs betta get a different idea or I'll flamenco on your foreheads!"

"Save the big talk for someone who finds you threatening." Kurues replied, eyes narrowed, "How can I take your word that Clementine is fine? You clearly wished her harm..."

Squint's ears stood, and he looked about to holler...before a smirk spread of his face, "Nice try. I ain't saying where she is." Kurues cursed inwardly. He thought this buck was stupid, but apparently not as much as he'd thought.

"Fine..." He lay his head down again, intending to end the conversation. Above, Maut looked willing to drop something on the crooked bunny, but decided not to. The rabbit stalked off, looking pleased with himself. Maut watched him go before trotting along the vine back to the gull, her new supervisor. She stood beside him, ignoring his disdainful look.

A pause. "...So...these wing-things are weird, huh?"

Silas cocked a feathery brow, "Where did that _petit lapin _learn such things?" Herb use wasn't exactly unheard of to him. Some animals ate certain plants knowing they helped with stomach ache, but that wasn't as elaborate as what she did. Maut shrugged slowly,

"...I didn' ask 'er, too busy trying not ta get killed by y'all." Maut admitted. Then, she flashed pale teeth at him in an unnerving manner, "Though I did 'ere there's _witchcraft _goin' on..."

"You do not startle me." He wasn't amused by her attempts to freak him out. Maut turned on her heel, pupils raised upwards,

"Weeell ya never know...could be a curse in your splint, she ain't exactly your fan..." The gull sniffed. Maut suddenly stopped, remembering what the saber said. She grinned.

"Saaay...now that y'all wings busted, ya can't sniff out anymore targets, can ya?" She grinned at him almost madly. He scowled, shuffling on blue webbed feet. "Guess that saber ain't got nothin'."

"For now. But thanks to your _petit lapin, _it is guaranteed that it will come eventually..." Silas drawled, a smug smirk appearing on his beak. Maut's mouth slid shut.

She shuffled away along the vine, aiming to get to Clementine. Silas let her go; he wanted that to sink in. And with her own broken wing, there wasn't much she could do against them.

...

Argeth heard the chatter, and he knew Gutt did, too. Kurues was noble, standing up for him, but the armadillo wanted to hit him and hit him hard. Maut, too. The two of them where acting like the pirates talked worse than they're bite, and that could have consequences for them. Provocation. Gutt would make sure they knew he was serious, if he hadn't been plotting that already, but why poke the beast in the eye?

They had no idea...

It was ironic, really. It seemed at first their association with him had doomed them, now it had bought them time. Argeth was a special case; not chump meat to be disposed of. It wasn't a good position he was in him as Gutt's personal punching bag, but it was better than being the dart board like any new fish would be.

Gutt was going to do something sickening and he knew it. Argeth cut through another vine; it took him half an hour. Maybe the broken wing fiasco would give them time, but it wasn't much. The sea could be crueller than Mother Nature; she's shove some debris their way...

They needed to act faster.

...

The land had cracked during the night, and almost everyone who had been caught on the wrong side of the crevices had plummeted into the sea, or below the earth. Some stragglers clung to the ice, drifting into the storm. Others pounded inland, trying to outrun the crumbling earth.

They drifted out to the uncaring ocean and the trap that awaited.

...

"Clemmy, we've been press-ganged into a gang of creeps!"

Clementine felt something tug sharply at her long, soft ears. Her eyes snapped open and bolted upright, rabbit instincts kicking in- and Maut was swung like a rock in a slingshot, smacking against a nearby wall. Clementine cringed,

"Maut...!"

The bat slid down the wall, onto her face. For a few horrified seconds Clementine thought she was dead, but then she leaped onto her feet, "Clem!"

"What's...?"

"Clem, no, no talking- wait, you can talk." The bat rubbed her head, hand in the air as the rabbit blinked, "You gotta stop healin' the pirates! 'Cuz you helped the bird, now they're gonna get otha' saps from the land break!"

Clementine felt horribly sick at that realization...and the next realization that she had helped Silas to save them, themselves. Had she...had she just doomed innocents for healing a crook like him?

"That saber was goin' all pointy-tooth at Kurues, say'n we was gonna se just how scary Gutt can be!" Maut said, eyes narrowed, but not out of anger to her thankfully, but more out of eccentric spite. Clementine's eyes widened.

"Kurues? How is he doing? And Glett?"

"Exhausted stiff, Clemmy, his leg ain't lookin' too good, but apart from that they're holdin' strong. He really gave that tiger some lip."

Clementine grinned faintly, "He has more nerve than I'll ever have."

"Says the bunny who burns faces off." Maut said.

Clementine didn't comment on how exaggerated that was.


	19. Chapter 19

_This chapter took forever o.o_

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Going Under Chapter 19

Last of the Cameos

Clementine awoke the next morning with Maut leaning against her arm; snoring quietly. The rabbit doe shook the water droplets off her ears; her body stiff and horribly sore. How she longed for the feel of soil and bark instead of the hard, uncompromising ice. She heaved a sigh and slid away from Maut, letting her slip onto the ground. She remained asleep.

Clementine did not see Squint here at the back of the ship; just the piles of weapons and 'bounty' as the pirates put it. Her nose twitched and she lifted her ears; listening intently around her. She could hear chatter at the middle of the ship, on the deck. Gutt was talking, but she couldn't quite catch it.

She looked upwards. Lining the clouds was light; not bright but grey, spreading like cracks through the ocean of colours above as the sear of water below rippled and hit against the sides of the ship.

_"Argh!"_

Clementine jumped at the call, and hurried closer but quietly. She peered over a slab of ice at where the crew had gathered, grins on their faces and blades in their hands. Kai was curled by the base of the giant tree making up the mast, quivering. Cocoum was beside her, eyes wide and almost apprehensive. He didn't know what was going on.

Kurues seemed to have been startled away nearby by the loud gruff voices of the pirates, and regarded them with distrust. Clementine swallowed.

"Lads, I don' have much more appointments open for any new candidates." Gutt had taken on that oily, 'pleasant' tone he used when he was making his malice with a tone that only made it worse; he knuckle-walked past his crew as if giving a pep-talk they had heard time and time again.

Wait, what did he say...?

"So when the wayward from this new batch of destruction turn up, you know what to do." He smiled curtly, giving a casual shrug that made Clementine's stomach whirl.

The crew didn't not yell in that loud obnoxious way, but exchanged pointed grins and unsavoury cackles. Clementine wondered if she'd looked at them enough before, as they seemed different entirely now...maybe being scared made your view different, a different type of fear that is...fear for yourself, then fear of what you'd see.

Something rough and thin slid around her waist and she squeaked- she was jerked to Squint's side, and he'd apparently whipped up beside her, his grip tight. She squirmed immediately, feel her skin crawl. Squint wasn't deterred, watching her wriggle with a grin.

"You excited, Girlie? You get to see all the action." He jabbed her chest with the tip of his blade, far too close even for his previous assurances. She tried to shove him off her, even though it repulsed her to have to touch him to do it. He leaned back, head lolled, and cackled to himself.

"You'll see soon enough." He let her go, letting her stumble away on shaky legs. He wiggled her fingers at her, bearing that uneven grin at her, and sauntered off. Or rather, a blur of grey whipped from her line of sight. Clementine drew away from the deck, rubbing her arm. No more 'candidates?' what did he...?

No prisoners, said a voice in the back of her head. Was this their fault? She swallowed uneasily at the idea. The mist was picking up, she noted, as she returned to where she'd left Maut. She bit her lip. Did the weather bend itself to the will of Gutt or something? Or was it just their eerie luck?

Some poor wretch would be floating in the water, hoping for a miracle, and be met by...them. But what could she do...?

...

"No pris'ners. Good."

Raz gazed over the side of the railing, leaning against the vine rigging. Shira lounged beside her, and the two females regarded their rippling reflections with mild interest. Raz chewed on her lip; tongue nursing a cut from the time the elk had bucked her during the previous fights. "Too crowded on 'ere with them cast-offs."

"I thought they were overstaying their welcome, but Gutt wants to squeeze all he can out of them." Shira remarked dryly, stretching her paws. Raz shrugged,

"Ah well, a bit o' fun with any new meat'll clear the boredom. No 'olding back makes the fight betta'." Shira shrugged, not in agreement or disagreement. She could be very indifferent when she wished. Raz rubbed her nose absently.

"Ain't usually talkin' durin' these kinda raids..." Usually the Captain liked a bit of banter, made them squirm. But sometimes they just took whatever material, food, or anything useful they had...and that was it for them. It wasn't like everyone could fit on this ship, not forever. Only they remained the actual crew; since they had formed. They had perfect formation, no actual new members where required...indefinably.

Unless the Captian made an exception. These cooks on their ship now weren't, really. They wouldn't be around long.

She sniffed the air; it was colder, damper. The mist was thickening. Hopefully the current would draw the rubble, and Silas's uselessness wouldn't hinder them.

Something echoed off the ocean surface, and her long ears shifted. Cries, calls, yelps. They were quite far out, still, from land. Guess some people never give up hope. Raz drew up slowly, lifting her spear. Shira flexed her claws.

It wouldn't be long now.

...

Kurues watched the logs, embedded in the side of the ship like buds to branches, swing down with formidable thuds that sent a shake through the floor. He forced himself onto shaky hooves and watched as the kangaroo leaped towards them, and onto her large tail- she flipped along them, kicking something right through with such powerful force that it flew right into the air; directed by the smooth wood. He watched a skull...a familiarly horrible skull lurch through the mist. One splashed into water, the next missed- but the third hit something hard. The pirates gave a whoop of triumph.

Kurues stumbled back from what he was seeing, but something gagged behind him. He pivoted his head, and horror made him freeze. Gutt had released Argeth, and was dragging his flopped body by the throat to the side of the ship, where the Kangaroo continued to fire.

The armadillo's face was bore in a snarl, teeth gritted, his legs weakened. Glett was giving grunts of unease, and Kurues turned his head. Glett's low eyes had seen through a porthole at the side of the ship...materials wood, vines, soil clumps, all where floating nearby. A strange hook whipped out and both of them stared as the Badger's line caught hold of a clump of vines. He reeled it in, giving a chattering laugh.

Gutt jerked Argeth forward and hit him against the hard icy side, teeth set in a snarl, "I want you to have a front row seat, Shorty." He let go of him, dropping him on his feet and leaving him leant on the side like a dead fish that coughed. Kurues stared, horrified.

"What are you doing? What is this plan of yours?" Gutt stopped, and paused, his back to him. Shira sent the elk a snide look, which he ignored. Gutt turned to face him, a patronizing and sickening smirk on his mug.

"Bouny's a floating, Friend." He remarked, moving past him to the tree trunk. Kai scrambled out of his way, running to Kurues's leg and clinging; Cocoum shifting out of the way, too. "This is where my expertise goes into action. You and your bunch get a front-row seat."

The pirates cackled. Kurues slammed a hoof down, "Enough to your cackling whenever he makes a comment! Have you no independent set of thinking?!"

Something whipped in front of them and he glared down upon the grey rabbit he so loathed. "That kinda talk's for saps!"

"More like for decent beings!" Kurues retorted at the rabbit.

A smack across his side sent Kurues slamming into the ground, grunting as another three slashes appeared on his bronze fur. He raised his head, eyes squinted in pain, as Gutt leered down at him.

"There's not much skin gonna be left on you by the end of you." He said, gripping his neck and hoisting him up. Kurues gagged, pain spiralling through him. He couldn't breathe.

"GUTT!" Argeth's voice, husky yet so loud after days without food and enough water, called through the air. The ape grunted, glancing his way.

"I thought you wanted him to see...?" Argeth remarked plainly, not even turning his head. He stared over the side of the ship; watching pieces of ice grow near. Gutt gave a harsh laugh,

"Ho-ho, someone's thinkin' like someone who isn't a stiff." He dropped the elk and headed once again for the trunk, leaping onto the wooden tower and scaling it with such speed it made Cocoum blinked. He saw him whip out his spy-glass, and he trotted to the other tree, intending to gain a better view point himself.

Kurues heard someone skid to his side and looked down. Clementine had hurried over, looking pale even beneath her fawn fur. "Kurues..."

"Someone's gon' die." Maut had slid down from a vine above, nestling on his head. They stood, huddled uncertainly at the back of the deck, while opposite the pirates hustled around in preparation. Clementine saw Squint snatch himself another weapon, and he twirled them both in his paws at the same time. He saw Clementine watching and grinned meanly. She looked away.

Her sharp ears could hear calls in the distance. Fear. Had they sounded that way...?

The vines attached to the skulls where dragged in, the hog and the kangaroo gripping them and tugging with surprisingly strength; the weightless water making it easier. The badger was watching with wide, savage eyes, clapping his paws along with the elephant seal. Squint cackled once again, sending shivers up her spine.

Clementine dared to tip-toe to one of the portholes, staring down through it. Eerie like their own, a flat block of ice floated closer, numerous animals attached to it. She saw groundhogs, a few birds huffing on their stomachs, among other mammals she couldn't classify. She saw no children, not in plain sight...she hoped there was none.

Her horror grew. They would all be gone, dead. Them, down there...she began quivering. It didn't seem real, to look at them, then expect them...

She opened her mouth to call out, but what could she do? Their glacier hit against the side of the ship with an audible clang. Clementine couldn't move, couldn't stop watching. She no Argeth-like savoir...just frightened looks, like she had been, unsaved...

Gutt lowered his eyeglass and smirked, remaining high above; an outline in the mist. "_Battle away, boys."_

With savage growls roaring out in unison, Shira and Raz swung over deck on vines. They landed in a spot that the another animals created when they scattered in fright. One of them who seemed to have gathered nerve launched at Raz, looking for a fight, and for a second he clawed at her. Clementine's eyes widened in alarm. Was she loosing-?

_Slice._

Clementine saw that attacker fall into the water, face down, something red oozing out from beneath him. Her breath caught in her throat, and something tugged at her arm fur...Maut was beside her, her jaw hanging open.

Raz dragged something out of her pouch; what looked like a wide, sharpened _jaw _on the end of a vine. She lifted it high and spun it in the air; the sound of it whirling clear and sharp. Someone else, perhaps some kind of canine creature, lunged at her, and a fight broke out full fletched. Shira attached a tall best with a long nose; he kicked at her, fighting back tooth and nail. She sunk his teeth into his neck and Raz's jaw-weapon snapped at the head of the canine...he slumped. Clementine found herself holding Maut tight. Her mind felt numb. She felt sick...

A few more of them huddled at the back of the berg, quacking with fear, not attacking like the ones maimed by the two females. Then, something _crashed. _

One second they where there, then they were gone. A large round block of ice had been shot at them; crushing the animals and killing most with the single hit. Some limp forms flopped into the water and Clementine felt her stomach heave. Gutt swung down and landed, after that hit he'd caused, between his two female crewmembers and the remaining animals. The few lined there stared up in horror, and Clementine only heard their gasps and saw the glint of Gutt's claws...before they sliced along the line of animals. Their eyes widened and clouded over, blood spinning out...Clementine shut her eyes at last, hearing their bodies slump.

Argeth had watched, his eyes half-lidded, his face set in a quiet, unreadable expression. Kurues watched with broad eyes, his jaw a little parted as heavy breathes tore through him. Kai curled at his side, and Cocoum, high above, was clinging to the branches, close to his chest.

Clementine curled up, feeling tears prickle in her eyes. Squint hopped up to the side of the ship, looking sour. It had been over quickly; he'd had none of the actions. Gupta and Flynn had grabbed things from the water; vines, fruits, wood, trying to out-gather each other, ignoring the bodies. Gutt climbed back onto the ship, his claws still rank with blood.

With the same claws he grabbed Argeth, lifting him by his flat head. Clementine clamped her paws over her mouth, watching in horror. Below, blood seeped over the white snow.

"Enjoy the show?" He asked, quietly, to the armadillo. Argeth coughed once, then spat right into his face. Clementine gaped, and watched as Gutt tossed him into the nearby log; a thud of painful collision echoing around them.

Argeth coughed as the Captain moved away, chucking inwardly to himself at the face of Kurues. Clementine closed her eyes, turning her head back to the dead ship below, forcing them open. She felt them become wet with tears.

Squint cackled lowly from above and nearby, watching Raz kick off some of them into the water, undeterred, looking for anything useful. Lucky for the tyke by the elk's eyes were closed, she'd be screaming all day...

He spotted something on the flat ice below. Small hollows, almost like looking at a piece of the moon. Perhaps something had burrowed underneath once. He cackled, wondering if he could aim a dagger into one of them.

Then, his nose twitched. Something in it had _moved. _Then a paw, shaky and black-blue, reached out and gripped the edge of the circular hollow. A possum dragged himself up, shaking, and his eyes bulging. A young one, perhaps a teen, looking shakier than the rabbit doe he bullied. Squnt's eyes sparked with light and he lifted a dagger, aiming right for him.

_"NO!"_

The shriek pierced the air and made everyone's head raise. Clementine had thrown herself at Squint and the two of them plummeted off the side; the water below engulfing them in an icy sting. Clementine kicked upwards, surging from the surface into the air. Squint immerged, gagging. Clementine kicked towards the berg, gripping onto it, ignoring the pain in her stomach, and dragged herself aboard. Shira and Raz turned, not noticing what sent them both off in such a flurry.

Clementine knew Squick would be on her soon, and hurried to the possum boy huddled in the hole in the ice, gasping for breath. He stared up at her, gaping. Another pair of eyes, pale and wide and small, stared up at her from his side. She didn't see anything else, turning. Squick had leaped onto the berg, knife out, and charged, roaring.

Clementine raised her arms to the sides, "Move!"

The two small mammals leaped from the hole and to the side- the possum boy's tail, however, was caught in the jaws of Raz's weapon and he was reeled back like a fish, giving a small horrified squeal. Clementine saw the owner of the pale grey eyes sprinting away, so small and fluffy...

She saw Shira eye the fluff and growl, ready to pounce. Clementine thought without really processing, throwing herself on the ball of pale fluff and curling up, shielding a shivering form like her own close. She heard the child whimper, and heard the pirates close in on her, the Possum gasping in pain and alarm...

Something else landed on deck. She opened her eyes. Argeth had swung down, free from his bonds, and used the very vines that had tied him to whip Shira across the face, sending her stumbling and knocking into Raz. He landed between Clementine and the angry male rabbit, who lunged at Argeth- only to be punched back square in the nose. He panted, exhausted, thirsty, tired...but he'd saved them.

Clementine knew this would end badly, but she turned on her side, uncaring herself a tad to look at the shivering rabbit kit in her arms; a tiny, pale grew bunny with pale grey eyes, staring up at her in wonder. Squint rubbed his nose and blinked at the night, never seeing anything so small, so helpless, and just so soft.

The possum, with Raz preoccupied with getting up, dragged himself back behind Clementine, staring up as if the heavens had saved him...and he spotted the shape of Cocoum above, a small ape clinging to the branches.

"...Co...COCOUM!" He bellowed, desperately.

Cocoum stared down; his green eyes vivid and wide and he leaned as far as his arms would allow. "...Klue...?"


	20. Chapter 20

_My computer has been acting up, may be getting a new one soon. For now I managed to force the cable in a way to charge it; if I move it slightly it'll cease to. But, I finished this chapter. Yee._

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Going Under Chapter 20

Fate of Fellows

Of course this couldn't have ended well. Gutt had made it clear that all passengers aboard the flat floating berg be dead; those who fought for live, and those who didn't. It was meant to be a flash of horror, directly to the faces of his captives, to break them into his crew's hold for the remainder of their less than useful lives. That horror, that grip created from the gory attack, had been broken by the saving of the last two passengers. But Gutt wasn't one to let things slide.

Raz and Shira drew back; their ankles at the tip of the flat, now mostly empty iceberg; the bodies having sunk away from sight. Gutt landed between them and the armadillo, who faced him off with a wrinkled nose. His knuckles where clenched and his shoulders hunched; fury evident on his fluid features. Argeth stared back, undeterred.

Squint remained a few yards to the right; eyeing the four with a glare. Clementine was huddled behind Argeth still, the little bunny curled tight in her arms. The possum peered past Argeth's elbow at the formidable ape, trembling.

Gutt slammed a first down on the berg and it cracked dangerously beneath him. Argeth leaned back, but kept his scowl as the ape loomed over him, horribly close. Clementine didn't dare say a word.

"I said _no prisoners, _Shorty..." He hissed, eyes flaring. Argeth sniffed indifferently. Then, without even glancing at the two in question a grin slid onto his face. "...Unless you wanna do it yourself. Prove me right."

He raised a hand, eyes still on Argeth, and Raz tossed a blade to him from her pouch; the dagger gleaming in the light. Clementine stared at the back of Argeth's hand as Gutt held the blade right under his nose; the hilt pointed his way.

"Its them or your lot, Shorty." Gutt remarked plainly, "Take your pick." Once more the familiar chorus of snickers rippled around the air. Clementine didn't look anywhere else, couldn't see Argeth's face. The bunny child in her arms shivered, pale eyes staring around in fright. She couldn't live knowing they had to die for her to live. She just couldn't.

Argeth didn't take it. "What do you take me for?"

"I took you for an armadillo that knew a liability when he saw one." Gutt sneered in return, pulling the hilt back. Clementine felt weak with surprise. Gutt tossed the dagger back to Raz and grabbed Aeth by the leg- the armadillo's eyes actually widened as the ape tossed him upwards back onto the pirate ship; a loud thud and a few cackles signalling he'd hit his mark. Clementine scrambled to her feet; the child in her arms and the possum boy at her side, breathing like his chest would bust any moment. Squint caught her eye, then, eying the three of them with a glare that almost looked like he didn't know what to think.

Gutt didn't look at her; and relief made her body feel like it had lost all its bones. "Squint, Raz, drag these dead-weights back on board."

Clementine felt Squint's mangy paw grip her arm and tug her along, flashing that grin of his as he did it. The bunny child squeaked, wriggling; Clementine tried to keep a hold of him but Squint reached over and grasped the scruff of the soft ball of fluff. Clementine gave a yelp of protest but he held her away, lifting the child to the left with the other and raising a brow at it. It only caused his eyes to look even more mangled.

The child curled up, legs and arms in, ears down, but his eyes where very wide, and he stared back at Squint with a curious expression despite obviously being terrified. The both of them looked at each other like they'd never seen anything so strange looking, or so...opposite.

The boy had a nice little face; even and soft while Squint's name spoke for itself. Clementine felt like she was looking as something as different as a mouse and a cat.

Squint broke from his glare of curiosity and dragged both of them along; the child swinging like a little bag, eyes widening. Clementine grumbled under her breath, glancing back- and saw the kangaroo seize the possum, squishing him in her paw, then follow them.

Clementine, the possum and the bunny child where thrown on the deck alongside a very bruised Argeth; Kurues seemed to have been fighting to get to him...the elephant seal and badger had attached a rein to him; a rope around his neck and middle keeping him back. His face was flushed with indignity.

"Mates, it's seems the cling-on number's gone up to five." Counting all of the youngsters she saw only four. Clementine's ear twitched when she realized that of course she was also considered as such. She tried not to frown as Squint whipped back to the ranks, Raz, too.

She knelt by Argeth, a paw resting on his shoulder. The bunny child stared right at the crew, paws curled against his chest almost as if he hadn't lost the habit of a baby kit just yet. They stared back; finding his curiosity a little amusing as well as surprising. Raz wrinkle her nose at him, glad the thing wasn't wailing like the joey she had the 'courtesy' of looking after. Flynn Spotted the tiny rabbit and his jaw fell open,

"Aaaw, more fluffies! Are we keepin' em, Capi'n?"

"For _now." _Gutt said in a low voice that the seal didn't quite catch. Argeth remained lying where he was; But Clementine saw how awake he looked. Was he pretending...?

"Don' worry about me. Don't let any of those kids of yours out of sight." He hissed. Clementine blinked, then stood quickly. She went slowly over to the bunny child, who was staring up at Flynn in awe, and scooped him up. He wasn't bothered by her, staring wondrously, yet softly, back at Flynn. The elephant seal waved in delight, and the boy waved quietly in return, a faint smile on his lips.

Gutt turned his head and sneered at the possum and new rabbit, and the possum looked ready to faint, Kurues tugging on his bonds, Glett, Kai and Maut hudded behind him-

"Kluuuue!"

Something black and furry swooped down from the mast, onto Gutt's back, and rolled right off it, collided with the floor with a loud thud. Klue jumped, arms and back straight...then breathed out.

"Cocoum!"

Not seeing Gutt's piercing eyes behind him, Cocoum picked Klue up like he was no more than a doll. Klue seemed squashed by the small ape's unknown strength. "You've alive! Yo."

"H-hi, Co-coum, P-put me down..."

Cocoum blinked, then chuckled awkwardly, releasing him. Clementine blinked at the coincidence they'd meet someone they knew out here. Klue, the possum, stumbled back, taking a deep breath. Gutt sneered behind Cocoum.

"Cute."

Cocoum, who had been beaming obliviously, stiffened and his grin slipped. He turned slowly, and grinned shakily up at the unimpressed face of Gutt. Gutt raised a hand, slowly, and Cocoum backed away gradually, almost stepping on Klue. He looked completely demonic in that moment and for a horrible second Clementine thought he was going to-

The claws sliced. Clementine gave a screeched, Kurues called in horror...but Cocoum was not harmed. One eye opened beadily, watching as the black hairs of his fridge fluttered to the ground, the claws having missed him literally by a few hairs. Gutt's glare pierced right through the boy worse than any claw, however.

Kurues breathed out slowly, looking ready to collapse. Gutt grunt at the pirates and they shuffled off; apparently getting some command the others didn't understand.

"Oooh..." A soft little voice randomly crooned from Clementine's arms. The rabbit boy was pointing at Shira's earrings, glinting as she walked by. Clementine stiffened as she saw the tiger eye them both, not looking too pleased, but amused.

Gutt looked over the wayward group f survivors; Argeth on the floor, Cocoum, Clementine, the two new kids, Kai, Kurues, Glett and Maut. Speaking technically, they outnumbered the pirates, but four of their ranks where children and small. It wasn't much of a difference. He would usually be irked at the idea of a crowded ship; but he wasn't intending for these cling-ons to remain. He glanced at the tiny ball of fluff that considered itself a rabbit looking around in wonder, eyes wide and a smile plastered on his face; buck teeth barely visible. He seemed to be lost on another plant; he'd walk into a wall...

"Gupta!"

The badger came scuttling back despite previous command for him to be left alone with the prisoners. "Aye, Captain?" His thick accent inquired. Gutt gave a half-smirk,

"Use the lil' piece of fluff the rabbit girl's holding to see if you can catch anything of interest." Clementine's mouth fell open, the rabbit boy pointing at Klue's horns curiously.

"You're using a kid as bait? Low move, Gutt." Argeth said, pushing himself slowly onto his knees. Gutt sneered and slammed a fist down on his back, knocking him onto his stomach once more with a slam. Clementine backed away as Gupta gave her a less-than kindly smile. The rabbit child looked at Gutt, then at the badger, not catching on. He pointed at Gutt,

"That looks lika haaat." He said in a dreamy voice, which made Clementine wonder if he'd hit his head while falling from land. Gutt's head snapped up and he glared at the child with malice. Argeth snickered shortly despite the provoked result it could have. Clementine's horror grew. She hoped Gutt was bluffing like he had been with Cocoum, but she had a bad idea...

Kurues lunged, and Gutt's hand reached out and easily clutched the elk's throat again; he was far too big compared to Kurues to possibly be beaten. He threw the elk away and he slammed into Flynn at the far end of the deck. Clementine turned and sprinted, holding the little bunny, Gupta throwing a knife that blocked her way. She skidded to a halt, head turning at him- and she scowled.

"I _will _burn your face, badger."

Something else jumped on his face. Gutt rolled his eyes, looking merely annoyed, as Maut had flung herself onto Gupta's face and began clawing and biting. He yelled aloud; reeling back and slipping. Clementine grinned faintly and took off again, leaping onto the side of the ship and gripping the vine rigging. The trio of rats from before where hanging beside the side of the ship; just below the port holes. They were using a vine like a swing-sweat, peering up at her. They waved, grinning toothily.

Clementine's eyes widened and instantly she lowered the tiny bunny down to them. They blinked, but the one made a few raspy noises, pointing onto the deck above that they couldn't really see, then mimicked using a fishing rod. The others nodded and the three held up their arms to catch the bunny for safe keeping. Clementine breathed in and released him, and he fell into the waiting paws. The tiny grey rabbit stared at them, giggling softly, "Mousies..."

Clementine then leaped off the side of the ship. Kurues had charged once more at Gutt, giving great distraction for Argeth to leap onto his back; the ape slammed him up against the mast, crushing him painfully between his furry back and the wood. The saber lunged, aiming for Kurues's bad leg. Clementine felt herself yelp-

The possum lunged, as did Cocoum, both boys giving loud uneven battle cries; Cocoum dramatic, Klue wavering and nervous. The possum landed on Shira's head and he tugged at her ears; Cocoum knocking her clean over by pouncing on her back,

"Get'y up tiger!"

"I'm going insane, I know it!" Klue screeched, hanging onto Shira's ears as she writhed her head back and further, swinging him like a stubborn leaf on a branch. Clementine turned her head and saw Raz hop into view, swinging that horrible jaw weapon of hers. Clementine pushed down the terror in her stomach and scooped up an fish bone flying nearby. It wasn't the sharpest, but oh well, it should hurt her oversized foot-

Raz felt something smack against her foot and the jaw intended for the elk trying to kick the Captain in the face slid out of balance and imbedded itself in the floor. She stared down, to see what the source of the sharp pain was- and saw the rabbit doe had hit a blunt weapon against her foot. Raz's face contorted in an ugly snarl and she kicked, hard, sending the doe flying across the deck with a yelp.

"Incomin' Clemmy!" The bat squawked, pointing above at her. The doe landed with a thud and Raz gave a satisfied snort of laughter. Then, something else hit against her foot; at the her ankle. Slowly, she looked down once again, eyes broad and bright with fierce bloodthirst.

Kai was attempting to kick her; her little hits didn't even tickle, and her face, so soft and unsure, was pulled into an unconvincing frown of fierceness. Raz cocked a brow, ignoring the fighting going on around her, watching the little joey fail to impress.

"Joey, ye ain't winnin'. I'm no' laughin', I suggest ye don't make this worse fer yerself."

Kai stared up at her, arms quivering, an d slowly but surely stopped, looking like she expected death. Raz grinned faintly and swung the jaw-vine weapon high in the air, watching the joey's face grow more and more terrified- then she tossed it over at the elk, catching one of his antlers and jerking his face to the floor. The hard _whack _that sounded in the air gave clear evidence that his head had been hit with a blow that would surely knock him out. Sure enough, he slumped, and with only the armadillo fighting him now, it was an easy win. Gutt smacked Argeth across the deck and he hit the other mast with a thud; red trickling down his flat head. Clementine lay sprawled on the floor, and a familiar hated buck stood over her. He pushed her over onto her back with the edge of his foot, and stepped down on her chest. She coughed, her breath catching in her throat.

"Get off."

"Make me, Girlie." He replied, blade spinning. Clementine glared back, her mind chanting he wouldn't do it...

He didn't, not yet. Kurues was down, she was down by the looks of it...Cocoum and Klue where still tormenting Shira, however, and where on earth was-

Glett came charging, slow but strong, towards Gutt. The ape's eyes actually bulged in surprise as the shelled mute slammed into him, knocking him onto his side.

Clementine glanced to the side, trying to breathe properly with the weight of his infernal foot keeping her down. Kai saw Kurues on the floor and her face crumbled in sorrow, and she hopped towards him. Raz's nose and mouth twisted in a snarl and she grabbed the joey by her tail, pulling her back.

Glett charged at her next, giving a snort- the pirates gaped in actual alarm as he came, and Raz leaped back away, letting Flynn leap at him in an attempted crushing act- but the shell was resilient, and instead of harming the glyptodon it instead hit against the seal, knocking the air from his lungs with a loud 'oof'.

Raz looked at the useless joey in her paw and rolled her eyes. Thanking her pouch was now empty of weapons, and needing both hands, she dropped the brat inside and warning her that if she moved, cried or so much as sniffed, she'd be narwhal-bait. She lifted the jaw and vine weapon, spinning it, intending on cracking the shell. Glett charged at her, looking ridiculously wobbly, and she hrew the weapon.

It bounced off with a clang. Clementine's mouth spread in a grin. Squint glared down at her, infuriated. He knelt, leering over her, and she looked away, screwing her eyes shut.

"Don't think its victory, Pipsqueak, you guys are so gonna get it once he goes down..."

"He tried to use a child as fish bait." She hissed, and he shrugged slowly.

"...Strongest survive on the sea." He snickered, absently. She wondered how he could believe such a thing was all right. Then, his grin faded, nose twitching. "...Hey. Where's the runt?"

His voice turned back to fury and he glowered down at her, holding the knife under her chin. Clementine closed her eyes. She said nothing.

She heard Glett fall to the side. Dobson had knocked him over, Flynn pushing him as well. He was helpless the wrong way up. Clementine knew Gutt wouldn't let this slide, and she felt the blade close against a vein in her neck.

Cocoum and Klue had been kicked off Shira's back, and where both now pinned beneath her sharp, clawed forepaws. Cocoum breathed in, and out, exhausted, eyeing Gutt down. Gutt glanced at him as he moved by, indifferent, before moving right to the bleeding, half-awake Argeth.

He leaned right down. Argeth could feel his hot, horrible breath on his skin, and it made his stomach churn. He screwed his eyes shut.

He heard an awful croon.

"If you _care _so much about them, I'll let you watch them die one...by...one."

* * *

_We need more rats, stat._


	21. Chapter 21

_This took longer as my laptop died. But, I managed to save the majority of my stuff and finished this chapter on my new spark-free laptop :D Yay ^^_

_Updates will be less frequent as tomorrow and beyond I'll be busier._

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Going Under: Chapter 21

Head in the Clouds

Clementine hadn't missed being bound up and unable to move her arms; she certainly didn't now. The mast, the giant tree trunk, and been broad enough to tie them all shoulder-to-shoulder around it; some of them, like herself, with their legs dangling down. Kurues was shoved up in an uncomfortable sitting position, Argeth just able to stand. Glett, however, with his compromising shell, had been tethered down; pegs on either side of him keeping him to the floor. The possum was beside Clementine; Argeth on her left, Maut next, then Kurues and then finishing with Cocoum beside Klue, as it was a circular shape after all.

Kai was nowhere to be seen; Clementine was sure Raz had placed her somewhere else. She didn't know whether to be thankful to the jill; she felt an odd sort of respect for her, and judging by the fact she didn't grin while Squint dragged her off to implied horrors, she grudgingly wondered if she felt the same thing in return.

Clementine shifted under the vine, but it didn't do any good. Then, wordlessly, the pirates moved about. Flynn boosted out his large stomach, knocking a wooden plank out onto the side of the ship. The wayward group of survivors stiffened. She hoped the rats had some kind of wacky little idea; but she didn't hold it too high.

"If you keelhaul some of us you'll lose cheap labour." Argeth called plainly, as Gutt waltzed by without looking at him, coming to a stop beside the precarious plank.

"You won't talk your way outa this one, Flat-head." The ape retorted casually, giving a short nod to Shira. The tiger returned a more heavy one, stiff with loyalty at the silent order, and moved towards Maut's tiny form without any glint of recognizing her as a living being.

She napped the vine holding Maut; each animal had one vine tying them, leaving it as a bunch of them layer over layer. Maut fell face-down with a squawk that would rival a bird; before being pawed over to the plank like a ball of fluff a cat would amuse itself with. Maut leaped to petite feet, bearing sharp teeth at the pirates, before Gupta shoved a knife in her face. She back along, before he jabbed again…eyes wide, her feet traveled onto the wood. The pirates chortled; Flynn clapped his flippers. Clementine could feel her heart beating far too hard and far too loud.

Maut backed slowly up the plank, giving the pirates a fierce wide-eyed look that was far too comical for the situation. The pirates looked back with cheerful expressions, far too delighted. She wrinkled her little pink nose their way and glanced downwards.

The narwhals cirled around, doing a good impression of sharks. Maut flapped a wing, "Ah, I've seen scarier tune fish!"

"The boys have seen better toothpicks." Gutt retorted in an almost friendly humorous manner, and Flynn whooped with laughter.

"Toothpick, do'ya get it, cuz she's small! He-heh!"

Maut pointed a single finger at him, and her wide eyes where so piercing he covered his large gummy mouth. Maut backed up, and saw the rest of her posse where watching her with horror. Argeth was looking at her in a strange way; head bent, eyes narrowed, almost as if he'd accepted he'd lost. She didn't think much of it; he wasn't Clemmy with her sad look.

Maut knew she should have felt alarm; maybe her body didn't remember she couldn't fly. She glanced down at the toothed swimmers, waiting for a rush of panic…but instead, she spotted something. The iceberg itself was tall and bulky; with about a meter or so up of nothing but solid ice way before the deck was formed. In that solid ice, she saw…little holes. Deep ones, but since the insides where white, they didn't catch her notice before.

That is, until she saw a rat peering up and waving. So that's how those rascals lived on this thing; they lived on the insane…lil tunnels, perhaps? Looked like it. And she was just small enough to fit in one, too…

Sneaky stow-awaying, these rats had going. The pirates didn't seem to know or care how they got about. They really should have, Maut thought with a smirk. She looked up with a wry grin, the crew's own smiles fading. Gutt rose a brow, slowly. Maut looked at Clementine, and winked a big blue eye before hopping off.

"Tally-ho!"

She fell; letting her useless wing feel the air and the narwhals splash about in eagerness; the pirates cheering and the survivors crying out in horror…then something grabbed her ankle, and she hung upside down. A rope of rats, paw-to-ankle, had leaped out and caught her, swinging back to the side of the ship. Then, they pulled inside the little white hole in the ship. Maut grinned all the way, and gave a fake yelp of horror before the ice roof of the narrow little tunnel blocked her view of the sky. The rats high-fived inside, scurrying along inside, further into the glacier.

Maut gave them a thumbs-up. "Clemmy was righ 'bout you guys…"

Clementine don't know why Maut winked, but hearing the yell of horro below made her feel sick and the pirates jeering didn't help. Squint turned his head and sent her the nastiest smirk he could muster, and she glared back with loathing. But, tears prickled in her eyes and she wasn't strong enough to cry. Maut had been her friend; a crazy by loyal friend that had stood by her…she hadn't known her long, but she'd become part of this life they had now; a life where surviving was hard and everything beforehand was just a blur.

She felt a horrible weight fall over her; a stinging in her chest. Clementine lowered her head; her whiskers brushing against the vines. Beside her, Argeth's eyes where locked on the far end of the shop opposite him, narrowed, but there was a dimness Clementine hadn't seen before.

"You're all sick…" Kurues rasped, his voice thick, "Sick in the head…"

"Maybe so." Gutt replied, offering a toothy grin, bearing uneven yellow teeth that make Clementine feel ill, "Its predictable you'd say tha, though I did expect a bunch of wails…"

"What IS your problem?" Klue asked, his voice cracking between high-pitched and slightly not high-pitched. "This is insane!"

"That's the fun, worm-tail!" Squint had whipped over and shoved the point of his blade under the youth's round pink nose. Klue's eyes where wide enough for his bulging eyes to pop out. Clementine reached out a foot the best she could and bucked it at Squint; knocking his blade away. Squint looked infuriated and brandished the blade her way instead,

"Watch it, girlie, or your next!" He yelled boisterously. Clementine gave a bitter glare, deciding not to reply to him. His sneer only broadened at being ignored and he gripped her ear; tugging it- Argeth's defeated look vanished and his brown,bloodshot eyes sparked.

"'EY!"

Squint was so startled by the bark, so much like that of a dog's, that his rabbit instincts must have forced his body to leap back. Squint jabbered in a strangled manner at his own move, and clearly blamed the indignity on Argeth, throwing a starfish at him. Argeth's cheek was sliced as it flew by; the armadillo's head jerking. Squint gave a short huff of laughter. "Hah!"

"You'll regret that you lil' punk." Argeth lifted his head slowly; the right side of his face tinted red as he glowered at the younger. "I'll stuff your own tail down your throat."

Gutt gave a gruff, curt laugh nearby, "And here I thought you weren't yourself anymore, Shorty."

"Am I going on the plank?" Cocoum inquired slowly, green eyes vividly wide. Gutt gave him a patronizing smirk,

"Sure, junior. We'll get around everyone, don't you worry." The crew snickered, making the survivors tense with both agitation and plain annoyance. Clementine, her chest stinging with pain, thinking of Maut, gone…just gone, made her loathe the faint smile on Shira's dignified face. She felt numb. Maybe it didn't hurt as much as she thought because she knew she'd be joining her..

Clementine thought that facing her death would make her scream, shiver, and perhaps faint. It probably would have before this whole misadventure, but not it just seemed…expected. Guess being close to death made you less afraid…

Still…it made hr heart sink knowing that the only time she had friends was when she was about to…die…

Or, had she not accepted it? Did she still think some random miracle or last-minute plan of Argeth's would save them? It wouldn't save Maut…

"All right, who's next?" Gutt's patience had worn thin; they'd let Squint and Argeth have their banter, now it was some other sap's turn. Clementine's stomach felt like a knot and she stared up at Kurues, eyes wide. He stared back, his mouth closed, eyes wide…pleading, almost, for forgiveness. Clementine couldn't form words.

Suddenly, a black arm reached out and snatched Klue from the tangle of vines. Clementine stared, gaping, as Gupta threw the possum out onto the plank.

"Gah!" He wobbled, the wood shaking precariously. Cocoum strained against the vines, struggling,

"H-hey, you can't, you-" He stared up at Gutt, panting, as the older ape looked down at him, unfeeling.

"He woulda died anyway, Junior. Don' worry, you'll be going too…" He then looked at Clementine, as if contemplating throwing her out, too. Clementine's mind decided to shut down. She neither hoped he would or he wouldn't, just waited. Squint's eyes where on her, she could see them in a blury corner of her eye…

"I think its just the possum left." Gutt remarked loudly, "Though don't think the rest of you are off."

Argeth stared at him, eyes hard. Clementine shuddered, though for which reason she didn't know. Her eyes blurred over as she didn't blink…but then she saw a purple and black pair of blurs poking out.

She blinked. Yards away, looking through a porthole on the side of the ship; obscured by a pile of fruit…was Maut and one of the rats, waving at her with wide, silent grins. Clementine's heart soared and she looked down; feeling a warmth spread all over, from her chest to her toes and the tip of her ears. Argeth had seen them, too, Kurues just glancing…and they all looked away as soon as they had seen.

Yes, their minds screamed. We're back in defiance, we have an advantage. Clementine loved those rats, and made a mental note to put on a fantastic fire-show for them that involved at least Shira's precious pelt being singed.

But, Klue wasn't in one the plan. He stared down in horror at the narwhals, and Gutt slammed a fist down on the plank, jolting it. Klue fell, gripping the side of the wood. Cocoum squirmed and struggled against the vine, Clementine doing the same. Kurues tried to buy time;

"Can't we come to an agreement?!"

"Ho-ho!" Gutt glanced at his crew then back at the elk, tone above patronizing it was that low, "Now we're gettin' desperate!"

The pirates outright laughed, raucously, at the elk. Clementine caught the eye of the kangaroo hill, whose smile faded a bit at her blazing look. Kai was still nowhere in sight, and Clementine wanted to know why.

Klue, the attention off him, looked about for means of escape, any means. Then, something wrapped around his ankle, tight and slimy. His head jerked to look downwards.

A thin vine had lopped around his foot like a snake, and the next moment it tugged, hard and sharp, and his paws where ripped from the wood. He gave a shriek, the air rushing in his ears, as he fell…and then suddenly he hit against the side of the berg, the scream being knocked out of him and extinguished. He blinked, mind muddled. What had just happened?

Slowly, he was tugged, upside down, into somewhere grey and small, his head aching.

Cocoum gave a pained yell, struggling violently as the pirates's laughs rang around him, and heis whole body shook until a whisper came to his ear,

"They're fine. Rats helped…"

He stopped. Fine? Rats? He had no idea what that meant, but Kurues's voice was so certain…he felt the horror and the desperation fade, and he resisted the urge to giggle like a mad person in relief. Gutt watched the group, their heads bent and silent, in grim satisfaction; a half-smile present on his face.

Inside, the survivors glowed…until they heard the sharp claws slicing in the air like unsheathed blades. They all looked up, and Argeth prepared his nerves for what he knew was coming.

The vines where cut and they fell; slamming against the floor- and Argeth was sliced across the chest by Gutt's blade-like hands. It knocked him back against the tree, and Kurues tried to weakly buck his antlers at Gutt- but missed, being his down the side and falling to his knees. Cocoum scrambled back, watching with wide-eyed horror as Glett;s stubby leg received the same hit…then Clementine's small, frail body was smacked, and she slammed against a slab of ice nearby before falling face-down; another set of scars dribbling down her side.

Cocoum stared up; pressing himself against the tree, at the giant looming that was Gutt. Gutt's eyes where narrowed and remorseless; no pity, not amusement. Cocoum's vivid eyes stared up, numb, then he felt a sting…but not as bad as he though.

He fell on his side; in a daze, seeing everything as if people where standing on face had been slapped; but not scratched. No blood trickled down his cheek. It shocked him more than anything else. But, midst the pain, his mind began chanting: They're alive, they're all fine.

Clementine raised her head by an inch, trying ignore the horrible pain and the cackles of the crew. Once again she stared at the jill, who regarded her with a frown; a dark frown with a half-smirk settled in beside it. But, something moved below her waist and Clementine spotted a pair of watery pale blue eyes watching her from her pouch.

…You're kidding…

Clementine closed her eyes as Raz shoved the joey's head back down and out of sight, indignant, as Squint idly wondered what became of the tiny little bunny he'd seen.


	22. Chapter 22

_Welp School/College plans are being sorted and I'm still ill...I fell asleep and woke up with a bit of a headache at 1 PM, not a good start to the week, and I hope to get things sorted with a teacher on Friday- that is, plans on my next steps now that my exams have been passed...that and working on another story may mean I'm slowing down on updates. Sorry for any delay :(_

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Going Under: Chapter 22

Thin Ice

The prisoners had been left to rot; too injured to work and therefore useless for the time being. After the doe healed them the best she could they where once again strapped to the mast; vines tight and their hands tangled so they couldn't possibly grab anything to cut themselves free. The little joey had joined them after being dragged into sight by Raz; no one really questioned where she'd been huddled all this time.

They had their heads bent dejectedly by nightfall. The pirates left them there without food and one the other side of the mast so they faced away from the centre of the deck. They could all fit on one side once their numbers where decreased.

A torch had been hung mid-deck and music played jubilantly; Flynn happily stringing a sharp string bow and Gupta playing casually on a flute. Chattering and laughter rang from the deck along with the warm firelight; almost giving the illusion that this was a comforting place to be.

Squint tossed a couple of starfish at a dart bored set on the other mast, one hitting the center. With a whoop he snatched a fruit away from Gupta's pile as the badger had lost a best. His lips still at his flute, the badger sent him a disliking glare.

Gutt lethargically tossed a dagger and it sliced through Squint's starfish. A whoop rang in the air as the ape plucked the fruit away from the awe-struck rabbit. Had it been anyone else Squint would have gone nuts.

He sat down with a shrug on a plank of wood, eyeing the fire as the music droned on and Gupta too aim, a starfish in one hand, his flute balanced in the other. Squint found himself wondering, again. The rabbit doe would have cried a lot more if the little bunny she had truly had been dropped or something. No one else seemed bothered by his disappearance. Not that Squint was bothered; kids where annoying, but he wondered all the same. One moment he'd been in her arm, the next he was gone.

Surely he hadn't imagined the bunny? No, Gutt told Gupta to use him as fish bait. He scratched his forehead, sending the fire he stared at a crooked thoughtful glare. No one else brought it up, why should he…? The Captain wasn't worried about some little runt, and neither should he.

He pushed it from his mind and instead focused on laughing at Gutpa missing the target.

…..

The little grey bunny wondered what this strange, all grey-world was. He was no green, smelt no grass or soil, and could only feel hard ice beneath him. He was in a place that was like a burrow, only it wasn't underground in the warm earth, it was all ice, and much smaller and slippery. He slid down on his tummy after trying to get up, to follow the funny tall mice that scuttled up. They had sharp little claws on their paws and feet, he didn't.

The sliding tickled his stomach and he giggled softly, his chin resting on the ice. He did it again just for the fun of it.

"Havin' fun, Dolly Daydream?" Above the sloping little tunnel he could see the bat-woman looking down at him with amusement. "Its way less cramped further in; we can actually stretched out legs. C'mon, let's go. We gotta plot against the pirate-dudes."

He hadn't a clue what she meant, but beamed softly. She had a funny way of speaking, and it made him want to follow. He squirmed back up the slippery tunnel, and as his legs slid down she grabbed him by his fluffy pelt and tugged him up into the next tunnel. It was more spacious; the rats actually sat in a huddle rather than one-by one, chewing on small grapes stacked up. The rabbit kit plucked up a grape and plopped down beside them, nibbling on it. The stripy, rat-like-but-not-rat boy sat shivering nearby, looking around the small area. He fiddled with thin nails, biting his lip. The small rabbit had no idea why; it was fun being in here.

The bat woman paced between the rats, him, and the 'possum' boy, as he remembered the rat-but-not-rat boy had been called. The bat woman rubbed her chin, humming to herself. He copied her humming, and she snorted a bit.

"All righ', Clueless and Jammy-Legs." She glanced at the shivering possum, whose nose twitched indignantly at the name, "We need ta free our bunch. We got the drop on 'um now that they think we're dead."

"How do we do that? The deck's crawling with pirates!" The possum squeaked. The rats, chewing on their fruit, lifted their wrists in support of the bat's words however, nodding vigorously. The bat raised a brow,

"You guys wanna see Clemmy burn some faces don' ya?"

Their nods where so emphasized one of them smashed his face into the berry he'd been eating. The little bunny giggled softly, looking off and eyeing another tunnel curiously. The bat snapped her fingers and he looked back, blinking.

"Hmmm?"

"Pay attention, little dude. You're the tiniest, and you pretty much look like a smudge of ice yourself…you'll blend in nicely…"

The possum's eyes widened the bunny looked at him, mind blank. "What? He's just a little kid, if they find him he won't survive!"

"If we don'do anything, we gon' die." The bat replied, sharply. She grinned at the rabbit child and he beamed back softly. Then, she took his shoulders. The movement was familiar; he remembered people used to do it when they really, really wanted him to listen. His smile faded and he stared up at her,

"What's wrong…?"

Those big blue eyes stared back at empty little grey ones. "Look, kiddo…there's bad people keepin' your new pals captive. You hafta go up and see if you can get to 'um so we can communicate."

"Communicate?" He repeated softly, beaming at the funny word. She grinned,

"Send messages, like…but you can't let them see ya. You're gonna have to be sneaky."

The dreamy little bunny had played games that included stealth before; sneaking around, keeping your head low. He'd grown quite good at it, especially when his pale grey pelt let him blend into the icy landscape that was scattered within the soil-filled valley of his home. But, he didn't think of his memories. For now his mind was full of the smell of the sea, and the new game…the scary people, he realized, had taken the soft woman who had been like him, like the others in his burrow.

He suddenly felt very unsure, and tired, and wanted to get back to the lady. So, he nodded. He'd sneak back to her….

"Hey bat-lady?"

"Yeah, buster?"

"Wazza piiirate?"

"…Oh boy…"

…..

It was dark and cold when the rats carried him back to the place the bat called the 'Deck'. He could see only endless water, bigger than any puddle or lake, and it made him shiver to look at it. But, e was distracted when he heard music, and laughter, and realized the bad pirates where having fun. There was piles of yummy-looking food the bat had told him not to touch scattered everywhere; pointy piles of strange rocks, too.

The rats gave him a thumb-s up, grinning, and he returned it. Then, he slowly moved through the maze of tall fruit piles, looking at all the different colours.

They where on the other side of the deck, his new friends where, as the bat said, and the other rabbit who had hugged him tight. He moved slowly, knowing he had to be quiet. He sniffed the air; smelling lots and lots of salt. He sneezed gently, rubbed his face, and moved one. He slid up to the last pile and stared around it, eyes wide.

He could see the pirates now, all different, and looking very…messy compared to people back home. And there was the crazy one with grey fur, a different shade than his, looking crazed. He was unlike any other bunny he'd ever seen. He looked happy enough to explode, and his face looked a little messed up.

Maybe, he reasoned, he'd eaten a very sour berry. He slowly began tip-towing along to a pile of sharp-things, the pirates just a few yards away. He pressed his shoulder up against the side of the ship as he did so, trotting quickly. They didn't see him at all and slowly but surely, he went past them.

He beamed, looking over his shoulder…and saw a birdie looking at him. He slipped behind a slab of ice; moving quickly, so fast he slipped on his stomach again. The laughter and chatter continued. Had he been seen? Slowly, his body quivered, and he didn't know why. Oh yes, they'd get him…but then what would happen?

He climbed into the pile of sharp-thingies; avoiding the points, wriggling between the long rods. He could see the bird shrugging and looking back at the fire. Huh, maybe he hadn't seen him. The crazy rabbit was chewing on the end of an apple core, and he felt his stomach rumble. He hadn't eaten much, and he wished he had an apple…

He looked at the others. He'd never seen anything as big as the thing called 'ape'. It had hands on its feet; he had big hair that made him giggle, but even bigger arms. He was almost as big as a woolly mammoth…and the purple lady looked weird, almost like a bunny, yet not a bunny, she had a long tail and a weird thing at her tummy.

He shrugged, playing with his toes. What had he been doing again? Ah ,yes, he'd been getting to the nice bunny lady...

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…lemme get anotha' knife, will ya?"

The crazy rabbit was coming over. The bunny child scrambled quickly out the back of the pile; slipping through easily and trotting away to the next line of cover; a bunch of apples, to his delight. He looked back and in the darkness, he saw the tall rabbit drag a pointy thing away from the others, poking its tip. He beamed.

He was funny.

Then, the tall crazy rabbit was going back to the fire, to the warmth, and the little rabbit continued. He could see the big tree nearby, and saw lots of green vines wrapped around it. He ambled over, holding an apple to his hest and clumsily pulling it along; a silly smile on his face.

He spotted the rabbit lady; her head bent and eyes closed, as if sleeping. He gently but firmly began tugging at her ear. Slowly, her eyes opened, and they widened upon seeing him. "Hiya, Miss Lady..I hav' an apple…" He warbled.

She stared at him, gaping, and slowly the others opened their eyes. The ape boy, much smaller and less frightening than the big one, laughed quietly, looking bemused. The dear-man with the long uneven horns gave a huff of surprise,

"H-uh…how'd you get up here?"

"The mousies 'elped me. The bat lady says I've gotta send messages, and that she's in a lil'tunnle in the ice…" The bunny warbled. They blinked, though he didn't know why.

"Kid…" The strange flat-headed grown-up spoke and he stared at him and the big bruise on his face and the red stuff on his cheek. He looked very tired.

"Go get a knife to cut us free…and do it quickly. Don't let them see you… all right?" His gruff voice made the boy's head nod all by itself. He looked at the nice woman again, as she was warm and comforting, not all serious like the other guy. She smiled,

"Y-you've done good, little one…I'm Clementine..what's your name?"

Name, name…he thought hard. Oh yes, he remembered those things. He beamed, hugging his apple to his chest. "I'm Crooo-ssss."

"Cross?" The ape boy repeated, a little too loudly, as the elk nudged him quickly a second later. Clementine smiled faintly and he beamed back.

"I know you'll be able to do it….just keep your head down, and get something small, but sharp, to get rid of these vines…okay…?"

"Hmmmm?" He beamed, tilting his head; ear flopping over his eye. He giggled, "Okie dokie, Miss Lady…" He took a bite out of the apple, put it down, and trotted off. Clementine watched him go with a blink.

"…Well….here I thought that other buck was crazy. The world never fails to prove me wrong." Kurues said frankly, more to himself that anyone else.

…

Squint's frustration was probably the thing making him loose the game, but he refused to believe let along admit that as he stormed back to the pile to retrieve yet a few more knives. Gupta had to be rigging this somehow; how could he keep winning the bets in any other way?

He kicked over one of the longer ones; taller than himself, and grabbed the hilt of a new knife, pulling at it. However, it stayed stuck in the pile. He tugged at it again, glaring furiously, but still it didn't loosen. A growl rippling out of his throat, he kicked against the pile and pulled with all his might; the hilt and dagger came free…and he found something dangling off the other end of the fish bone he was holding. Something fluffy and grey, and staring at him with wide grey eyes.

The bunny child giggled softly as confusion mangled his already squint face. "Hee-hee-ee!"

* * *

_Something has made even Squint freaked out by its absurdness. Be afraid._


	23. Chapter 23

_Yes, its official, writer's block is nigh as well as tomorrow I'll be going to sort out college stuff, so updates will be less frequent. This chapter was hard to write, thus shorter ^^'_

* * *

Going Under Chapter 23

Blended Chaos

_He'd thought he'd known him. He'd tried to calm himself, delude himself…comfort himself by saying there was no way he could see this coming, no way he could have predicted it all. But then a nasty little voice would argue against those welcome thoughts. You knew, they said, you saw it. You just ignored it like you ignore all of your problems…_

_He'd spent a very long time thinking he knew his best friend; he had no brothers, he'd supposed this is what it felt like. They would watch the skies turn red to blue and the snow fall heavy and glistening, always aware that it had been there for thousands of years before they even drew breath. _

_And he thought it always would be. But, slowly, the land began to change and the core of the world began to boil like the thing that lay dormant inside his friend for all those years he'd known him. And he was too late to stop the consequences of that thing._

…_._

Squint stared at the little fluffy thing hanging off the edge of the fish bone knife with absurd confusion; his face drawn in a crooked tangle of bemusement and rage. Then, his eyes narrowed and he shook the hilt of the weapon; the bunny child swayed and flopped, clinging still, and giggled happily as if it where a game. This only served to make the older rabbit's blood boil,

"Gerrof, Runt!" He pulled the knife within inches of his lopsided face in hopes to intimidate and stare down the child, but a pair of dreamy grey eyes watched with him nothing but amusement.

"Hehee, squishy face…" The child commented quietly. Squint's ears whipped up to scissor-like points, his posture stiff.

"My face is not squishy, runt, get off my blade!" He swung the dagger with all his might, overhead, and the little rabbit shot from it like a stone from a catapult, sailing overhead, the pirates glancing upwards upon hearing a soft voice call:

"Weeee…"

He landed with a plop in a bunch of soft plums on the other side of the ship; tumbling down and knocking the pile over with a content giggle. The crew regarded the small thing with a mixture of surprised and bemusement, as if wondering if he was really there, but not daring to ask in case they sounded insane when describing it.

Squint had gotten over his perplexed mindset and stormed after the runt; his suspicions clear. The little thing had been sneaking around the whole time he'd been wondering where he'd vanished; guess he didn't fall overboard after all. Mores the pity, it would have been a better fate than infuriating him by playing tug-a-war. He wasn't in the mood for playing with annoying, clueless kits when he was loosing a betting game.

He came to a halt in front of the destroyed pile of fruit and brandished his weapon near the beaming face of the kid, trying to keep his blood from boiling to the point of tossing the irritating thing again. "Wanna piece of me Runt? What's so funny?" He barked at his smiling face. The kit, holding his toes, leaned back, giggling.

"Hehehehehe. You got a funny face, Mister…" He then did something strange. He narrowed one eye and let one ear fall flat down his back; perfecting a squint-eyed impression of the grown buck before him. There was a loud chortle behind him as the pirates recognized how spot-on said impression was.

"All right, bunny, you're little life is over!" He grabbed the pair of little ears and hoisted the child up in the air, blade under his nose. He was too angry to question himself on whether he'd actually harm the thing. The child giggled softly, reaching to grab his nose- evoking yet another chorus of cackles from the pirates. They weren't worried; not even Gutt, this little creature was any threat. They saw him as a little scrap of entertainment, however, to annoy the rabbit that annoyed them on a daily basis

Squint wasn't going to contend that for long and dragged the child off his nose, holding him at arm's length as he giggled, "Do you have a brain, kid?"

"Whazza brain…?" The boy asked him dreamily, now looking upwards at all the vines winding in and out of the masts above. Squint stared at him, blinking very, very slowly as his usually fast-moving mind try to register this. Then he sneered,

"You wanna play, then fine!" He took the child by the scruff and tossed him along the ice, sending him rolling along in a little ball to bash Gupta in the side of the head. The giggles turned into a squeal and the child's grin finally vanished. He landed on Gupta's stomach; the badger having been floored and flattened. Squint caught Gutt give an eye-roll out of the corner of his own mismatched pupils, and the small bunny began crying, sat on Gupta's stomach like he was a soft cushion.

"Gupta, get rid of the pint-sized fish bait already."

The badger stood, lifting the now wailing kit by the scruff and hauling him off, not knowing exactly what to do with him. Squint eyed the bunny and saw something catch the boy's attention. His cries vanished as if they'd never been there and he chortled merrily.

A pineapple that rivalled Gupta in size smacked against his head, and in a daze he dropped the boy. The small rabbit darted around, the pirates leaping up as if a spider or a cockroach was scuttling around; all save for Gutt, who was unimpressed.

He slammed a clawed fist down and the child narrowly avoided being crushed like a grape by the formidable palm. On all fours the grey blur dashed back, missing Raz's foot as she tried to trip him; dodging Shira's batting…his small size was more of strength than his speed, they missed him because he managed to get by them and they didn't manage to hit the tiny target.

Squint leaped in front of the grey blur, knife out, his grin broad as the boy skidded to a halt in front of him, grey eyes bulging, "Ha-ha!"

The runt sped backwards once more, and Squint felt both eyes slowly widen as he spotted Gutt's eyes narrow to dark little slits and a single claw draw out.

The claw stuck twice; fast and precise; without a pause or an indication of hesitance. It happened so quickly that even Squint didn't catch; his mind could not keep up with a primate's. The tiny grey bal fell on his stomach with a soft noise that was too breathless to be a squeak; two overlapping scars between and over his eyelids; one leaning left, the other right, crossing over each other like the shape in a game of knots and crosses.

The scar hadn't killed the kit, nor had it impeded his developing sight. Squint was surprised, Gutt had spared him, and the reason he couldn't quite decide. Children where liabilities, a deadweight that needed care and couldn't offer anything in return…but whatever reason he'd kept the boy alive, it wasn't a good once. Squint felt a half-smile prick at that, though he didn't feel the usual chortle come to him when his Captain mauled someone.

Gutt scooped up the limp form of the bunny, whose eyes swivelled around, awake, but even more dazed that he seemed before. He caught Squint's look and the two stared at each other as Gutt carted him off to the mast where the surviving group where tied. His crew gathered around quickly, eyes boring down on them. Squint whipped over, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He saw the doe's look of horror grow as the bunny was dropped before them; on his side.

The armadillo's eyes widened very, very slowly. Gutt gave a humourless grin, a vague one, in retort. "So you haven't changed; using the weaklings to do your dirty work."

"Says the Captain of this crew." Argeth replied loftily, not looking down at the rabbit child. Clementine felt like being sick; she wanted desperately to hold the confused, dazed little thing in her arms, but in the vine's tight embrace she couldn't even flinch. Argeth's scarred face was marred with forced disinterest.

The crew clearly didn't like his comment and Shira stepped forward; claw digging into the city floor, but Gutt lifted a hand with a gruff grunt. Argeth gave a stiff sort of snort,

"So what now, Gutt? Another 'let the armadillo watch them die' scheme?" Gutt shrugged off-handedly.

"Nope. We're going to see how fit these runts you've insisted on keeping around are. Tomorrow they work, and if they don't, they go overboard." Argeth's eyes broadened. He then glanced downward as the ape sauntered off slowly, as did his crew, shooting back glares mixed in with grins. Of course, the kids wouldn't be able to do much on the ship, but Gutt would make sure they used up every little ounce of energy they had so they wouldn't be able to have a hand in escaping or fighting. That, and if they suffered, so did the survivors.

Squint moved over to the small bunny, who gave a small sneeze where he lay on his stomach. Clementine had begun to sob, unable to comfort the boy, though he seemed more dizzy than upset. The pain would sink in, though, Squint was sure.

He scooped up the limp kit, feeling very uneasy with it as he'd never really held someone attempting not to hurt them. He tied a little vine to the mast, then to the boy's ankle so he wouldn't run ff, placing him at the foot of the tree beneath the rabbit doe.

Rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding her sharp brown eyes, Squint turned and strode off back to the light of the fire and the dart game, feeling oddly empty and his blood more tuned down than it had been previously. He didn't know what it was, but something was bothering him. It was only his luck no one seemed to notice his silence; for once he didn't feel like throwing insults or running around. But he didn't feel bored, either. Just preoccupied.

With a grunt he sat down on a slab of ice nearby the fire, busying himself by sharpening his favourite fish-bone weapon and trying to ignore the feeling that he couldn't quite place. An uncomfortable one.

….

Maut and the rats stared over the surface of the deck, eyes only, from the porthole. Her wings quivered with both effort at clinging onto the side with sore appendages, but also guilt. She'd caused this; she'd thought too soon that the boy wouldn't be caught. But, they still had time…

Though it seemed Gutt knew they would try to escape, try to outsmart him. Maybe that's why he kept them alive; letting them think they could have a chance...She shook her head, reasoning with herself. He thought they where dead, they still had an advantage.

She'd have to leave the larger creatures to fend for themselves and figure out a get-away scheme. Argeth would just have to work his magic and find their way out of the vines. She looked back at the rats.

"All right, crazy dudes, we need to keep an eye on the happenings up here…you keep an eye out and I do the planning, okay?"

They nodded vigorously. Maut knew they expected fire; he hoped Clementine would get to it.

….

Cross had never felt this horrible feeling before; well he had, when he hit his toe or tripped on his stomach, but it never hurt as badly as this. He just wanted to sit. He didn't feel sick, but he felt dizzy, like he was half asleep, and his body wouldn't move even though he wanted it to. He didn't look up or speak to the rabbit lady, who tried again and again to make him speak. But, all he felt was his sore face, the burning.

He'd been having fun. Tears gritted his eyes, but didn't fall. He didn't know why the giant ape had harmed him or why he was now tied to the large, looming tree in the dark, but he knew it was bad. He wished he'd stayed with the rats now, or let go of the sharp thing when the grown up rabbit took t.

He sniffed and wiped his cold nose unhappily, sounds around him muffled and sight blurred with tears. He blinked, finding his sight a little clearer.

"Cross…?"

He finally looked up, head lolling a little from side to side. He beamed faintly up at the rabbit lady, Clementine, he remembered. He shakily stood up, reaching for her hand, though it was stuck t her side because of the vines. He curled a little hand around her fingers; they tightened the best they would around his.

"Don't cry….I'll help the pain when I'm out of here…"

He hiccupped softly, "Its okay, lady…it doesn't hurt too much…" Though he supposed it did. He curled next to the tree; arm still up in order to try and try and hold hers and just barely reaching. Clementine shook her head,

"I wish I could let things fly over my head as easily…goodnight, Cross."


	24. Chapter 24

_I'll be busy all tomorrow and starting next week I'll be even busier...so yeah, updates may take a while ^^;_

_Hope you enjoy ^^_

* * *

Going Under Chapter 24

Rats a Plenty

Morning came and the survivors where awakened not by the sun, but by the youngest members of their wayward gang being cut down and dragged off to the centre of the deck. Kai and Cocoum, being the two largest, had been seized by the scruff before they could scarper; Raz having the disliked privileged of pulling them along.

Kurues of course called out in protest and was cuffed over the head by Shira. Clementine chewed on her lip as Squint severed the vine towing the funny little oddball known as Cross to the tree, and ragged the vine along. Cross was pulled along the smooth ice by his foot, but she was surprised to see he giggled rather than appeared uncomfortable. "Wee!"

Cocoum and Kai hit the ground in the center of the deck; before the disinterested face of Gutt. Cocoum landed in a roll that ended with him stumbling back onto agile yet inexperienced hands; wobbling, and Kai scrambled to a stand, her arms curled against her chest and head bent, giving her a stooped look despite standing.

Squint tossed the small giggling rabbit kit between them and he landed face-down; ears flopped. He peered up at Gutt and bore a little smile despite the scars on his face. "Hee."

Gutt gave a curt exasperated sigh that wasn't missed by the rest of the crew. He hadn't much patience for these youngsters but he wished to see their carers suffer, so he'd need them alive for it. Cocoum stared up at him with faint loathing, but curiosity.

"So, you three made it all the way out here without dying...you probably think that's impressive, pretty good." Gutt remarked slowly, eyeing the three. The ape and joey stared back, wide-eyed, as the bunny child looked off into the distance, off in his own little word.

Gutt ignored him, his tone hardening, "But it's not, Land-lubbers. You made it by luck, and luck isn't going to keep you alive forever. Neither are your chums tied up back there."

He saw the ape boy's face changed from fear to suspicion, and he gave a casual shrug, "So consider this initiation. Whoever can hold out their own gets a longer lifespan in this crumbling world, and those who don't..."

"Get clawed?" Cocoum asked bluntly, cutting him off. The crew shifted a little; they would never interrupt Gutt nor even think about doing it in case he guessed their thoughts. The giant ape cocked a brow at Cocoum but didn't pause. He gave an inward chuckle, "No, Junior. You get some narwhals."

"Oh." Cocoum's mind flashed back to the shark-imitating toothed whales he'd glimpsed beforehand and decided he didn't wish to get to know them any better than that. He shrugged himself, a less confident lift of the shoulders than Gutt would have pulled off in this moment.

"...No thanks."

"That's what I thought." Gutt glanced upwards, and a smooth conniving grin spread across wrinkled lips. Cocoum didn't like the look and his fingers curled at the sight.

"Since Mr Silas is out of commission, you'll be taking up look-out Junior...I noticed you're not much of a climber yet." Another way of saying that it was a good bet he'd fall and die from the higher branches he'd not yet approached, and Gutt was hoping for it.

Cocoum slowly moved to the mast, keeping his eyes locked with Gutt. Kai gave a small squeak watching her only form of protection go. Cross watched him, too, eyes bright yet blurry with curiosity. He hoped up onto the Mast easily enough and scaled upwards, aware he had to go higher into the more precarious branches.

A starfish hit the wood beside his hand and a cackle below signalled he was also being used as a dart target for extra humiliation. He quicker his pace, leaping out to a vine to avoid any other flying sharp objects they may hurl.

Below, he heard Gutt bark out more commands, more curt now. "Raz, make sure the runt in your hands is doing something useful. Gupta, Squint- the brainless ball of fluff is your charge. See if he's able to move faster than his brain does."

There was unison of growls signalling their agreement. He didn't look back, and climbed as high as he dared. The wind stung his eyes up here; colder and tinted with the salt and smell of the sea. The branch he now clung to was wavering a little; he hoped it would bend rather than snap.

He looked around, finding that for once the seas where clearing and the fog had lifted. The sky was a dismal shade of grey still, but he could see the sun poking through the cracks a few miles off.

Kai followed Raz upon seeing the older kangaroo's curt tilt of the head, a gesture to get her to follow. She didn't look at her too much, and Kai wondered why. Her unease around the elder hadn't exactly evaporated, but she didn't feel the urge to run away any longer. Raz had gone back to the weapon stacks and pluck up a blunt one that hadn't been sharpened in a while.

With a quick glance over it she held it out to the joey. Kai apprehensively lifted her arms, but as soon as she let go the joey was floored by the weight of it, giving a small 'oof' as she hit the ground. Raz heaved a sigh, pulling it away and giving her a less weighted one. "Just sharpen it an' avoid gettin' it near your fingers. There ain't no magic bunny anymore to help ye if you 'urt yerself."

The joey looked up at her solemnly before clumsily plucking up a flint and trying to mimic what she'd seen her doing previously. Raz rose a brow, slightly impressed she had an idea of what she was doing, but knew she was no expert. Her little paws shoot too much; she was scared of the thing she sharpened. Raz rolled her eyes, sitting down beside her and lifting another weapon to work on.

"It's not gonna bite ya if yer careful. Ye'll probably make the chance of ye gettin' cut bigger if ye keep shakin'."

"M'sorry." The joey mumbled. Raz glanced over at her and hide to hide a small smidge of surprise that she'd worked up the nerve to actually talk back for one. She shrugged,

"Sorry doesn' sharpen the weapons or keeps yer fingers un-cut. Just concentrate on that before I get annoyed."

Kai watched her quietly, head tilted, then quickly went back to sharpening, trying to keep her paws as steady as possible. She heard a soft giggle nearby and spotted Gupta and Squint eyeing down their little charge. Cross was sitting on the floor, playing with his toes without looking up at the two, who were clearly debating on what to do with him.

"Ya could use him for target practice; see how close we can get to hitting 'em." Squint noted, remembering how the runt had managed to evade them last now. Gupta snickered,

"And take your job, Squint-Boy? Naw, we should use 'im for fish bait like the Captian said before." Unaware of the heinous, threatening ideas, Cross looked up at them, beaming randomly. Squint glanced away, feeling the odd unease he'd felt all last night twist in his again. If he'd been crying or afraid it would have been easier, but the runt was just so unknowing of the position he was in that he made this less amusing.

Then he saw said runt fiddling with something in his small paws, and saw it was a tiny flint. Squint rose a brow, ignoring Gupta's suggestion to see if the boy could lift their knives for them. "'Ey, what're you doing with that, Pipsqueak?"

"Bam!" The rabbit kit tossed the flint and Gupta. It slid past his ear and hit the mast with a small twang, making the badger jump. The child gripped his feet, rocking back and giving a delighted giggle. "Surpriiise. You jumped. You're lika bunny now..."

Gupta gave the boy a blazing scowl once his cowardly demeanour vanished; Squnt gave a lopsided grin. "Not bad, kid, but I don't think ya could do any better..."

"Hmmm? I don' wanna do better, I'm hungry." The boy hopped onto his feet and wandered away, as if forgetting he was their prisoner. The two exchanged a quick glance of confusion before going after him.

"Hey, runt, where'd ya think you're doing?"

The small ball of fur hopped onto a pile of bounty, scooping up an apple, totally ignoring Squint. Gupta lifted a brow, slowly. The rabbit's jaw dropped in furious bemusement at being ignored, and then he twisted his face back into a glare. He slammed a foot down, pointing at the ground before him. "C'mere!"

The boy finally looked at him, chewing on some apple. "Hmm?"

Squint's eyes narrowed and his voice turned to a bubbling growl. "Come. Here. Or I'll cut you in two!"

The child's eyes where very wide as he ambled back, and he was still holding his bitten apple to his chest and curiously staring up at him. "Whazzat mean?"

Squint slapped a paw against his face, rubbing it roughly as he tried to shake of his exasperation and not maul this thing. "It means it'll hurt, runt, like that thing on your face!"

Something finally, _finally _flickered behind those blank little irises. "...You mean the sting feeling?" He murmured, as if he didn't know what pain was. Squint smirked slightly. He'd be learning all right.

"That's it exactly, Pipsqueak. If you don't listen like you keep doing, then you'll get more and more of those scars all over your body until you fall into itsy little pieces." He knelt down so he was at eye level, measure the size of the figurative pieces between his thumb and finger. The boy stared at his hand with almost bulging eyes.

"And then you get fed to the fishes."

The rabbit kit looked right at him, and Squint regretting getting him to listen. Those big clear eyes of his seemed to never blink. Then, they watered and the boy's lip trembled. He threw back his head and began wailing without restrained.

"Waaa..."

Squint tugged hard on both of his ears. Gupta snickered spitefully, "You made 'em try, dude. If he doesn't stop you'll be next for the scratches."

"No I won't!" He tossed his dagger at Gupta, missing his nose by an inch. The badger reeled back and lost his balance, falling into a pile of fruit. It collapsed on top of him; only his clawed feet stuck out from the mound of figs. The bunny's wails ended almost immediately and he giggled softly, pointing.

"Hee, badger went in the fruit..." Squint scooped up the random child by the ears and flounced off, annoyed and amused at the same time. Cross, as he'd come to remember his name by now (weirdly similar to his own, but he refused to note it) wasn't bothered at all at being carried by his ears.

"All right, runt, you answer to me now!" Squint said, holding him up at eye-level. Cross beamed at him, giggling softly. He sighed.

Then, he saw they were being observed. He dropped the small rabbit and narrowed his eyes to get a better look. Some of the cling-on rats that the Captain didn't really see as living, thinking creatures, where watching him from a porthole at the bottom of the wall lining the deck. They mimicked the face he was giving them, narrowing their eyes and exaggerating is squinted face. He felt his blood boil and he tossed a starfish their way. They whipped out of sight for a second.

But, they returned, chattering quietly in squeaks and high-picked rambles that made no sense. Then, one of them blew a raspberry at him, another hopped up onto the wall of the ship to wag his tail and backside his way.

Squint felt his temper snap and he whipped over, and he saw their eyes widen in terror as he sliced through the air, giving a yell of anger as he did it. They leaped out of the way, and overboard, to avoid his swipes, giving strangled yelps of surprise. Squint snickered at his handiwork and turned away.

But then he saw the bunny child was gone. His eyes shooting wide, he looked left and right. He couldn't see him anywhere on the deck, or near any of the piles of fruit...he and his apple where clean gone.

Squint stamped the floor with a furious foot and began whipping about. If he didn't find him he was sure he'd get the cat's tails for it.

...

"Whaddaya know, they really do stomp their feet on the ground."

Maut had heard the stamp from above, even deep down here. The rats plopped down the tiny giggling rabbit they'd swiped back from above; distracting Squint hadn't taken much. Two of them high-fived theatrically, grinning rather dumbly despite their sneaky minds.

"Good job, Rats, you really know your stealth mode and swiping." Maut remarked, hands on her hips, and they saluted her enthusiastically. Cross looked up at them,

"Do we stay down 'ere or do weee...um, go back up?" He said, oblivious of how bad Maut felt. She saw the scratches and felt her stomach churn. This was her fault, she knew, but she needed to keep it together. She petted his fluffy head softly, trying to smile.

"Don' you worry, Sugar. If anyone's going up to get maimed this time, its gonna be me..."

He tilted his head but didn't question her, continuing to eat his apple. Maut sliced off a piece for herself and chewed on it, gears in her head turning. So the kids where earning their keep. Maybe Cocoum being the look-out would have an advantage...he could tell little fibs about what he sees now and again. Maybe find them a new ship to escape on...?

The bat smirked to herself.

_Now we're talkin'. _


	25. Chapter 25

_I apologize for this delay and the upcoming one; I'm busy tomorrow for a long while ^^' And I'm still not in the best of health. Sorry for the inconvenience. _

* * *

Going Under Chapter 25

How to Distract Pirates

How does one overthrow a pirate ship? If you asked Maut this question she would tell you she had no idea. But, she intended to find out.

Outrunning the pirates? The only 'out' she saw there was in 'out of the question.' She'd thought over Cocoum being the scout as a way to find a new vessel to escape on; but that solution wouldn't work. They'd tried that before; the narwhals would catch them. So, she intended to communicate with Argeth herself this time.

Leaving Cross with the silent but ever-helpful rats, the bat scaled the side of the ship, clutching onto a vine hanging limp and forgotten from one of the portholes. She could hear chatter and commotion above; the pirates where busy. This was her chance to get to Argeth. She peered over the ice, blue eyes narrowed. The gang was still tied up tight and taught to the further-away mast; Clementine's head was flopped dejectedly. They had their eyes closed, but by this time in the morning Maut reasoned that they must be awake. They didn't have strength.

She peered over the deck; eyeing down various pairs of feet. Then, something tugged at her baggy ear. With a quick glance back and a blink she saw Cross had followed her and was now clinging to her back; chin rested on her head.

"Watcha dooin?"

Maut breathed in slowly, "Kid, what're you doing here?!" She hissed, waving a wing at him while trying to keep a hold on the ship; thus with difficulty. He took no notice, giggling. Maut face-palmed,

"Kid, get back to the rats! I gotta talk to Argeth!"

"Arg-eth?" He repeated softly. Maut heaved a heavy breath before pointing a small clawed finger at the armadillo in question.

"The guy with the flat-head, Small-fry. He's got the pirate-busting brains we need to get outa here." The boy nodded very slowly.

Then he peered over her head, appearing upside down to her; his little nose twitched. "Do you wanna distraction?" He chimed. It took Maut several seconds to register what he just said. A distraction? Not bad for a kit his age...but was it worth it? She eyed the claw marks on his beaming face and felt her guilt twinge once more. No, if he'd gone missing for so long then was caught again (granted it was only overnight) he could get more unwanted decorations to his fur.

Maut shook her head...and gaped when there was no longer a small grey fluff ball holding onto it. Her heart in her mouth, she saw he'd already scrambled on deck and was ambling around, laughing cheerily, as if chasing imaginary butterflies.

It was too much to hope he wouldn't be seen long enough for her to get him. The squint-eyed buck's head pivoted over at the sound of the soft little chortle and his eyes snapped to bulging balls of fury.

"There ya are, I've been lookin' all over!" He stomped over on elongated feet, looking ready to maim the tiny thing when Cross whipped away, arms flailing, but legs very much working. Gupta dived for him, but the miniature rabbit slipped right through his grabbing hands. Squint used Gupta as a volley-pad and jumped onto, then off, his back, leaping over the kit's head and landing in front of him.

Squint lunged; aiming to grab at the child's ears, but Cross only had to tilt his head back for his small ears to be missed. The giggles had ended; the child's eyes where wide- he knew the fun had ended. He leaped backwards, on all fours now, past Kai- who gave a little clap upon seeing him again. Above he heard the ape boy whoop, and he found it nice for them to do that...

"Aww, lookit the bunny!" A giant squishy-looking creature beamed down at him. He slammed right into his floppy stomach, but it didn't hurt; in fact it sent him spinning through the air overheard; out of the adult rabbit's reach. He waved his arms merrily before hitting against something.

He hung there, blinking. He lifted his head and found he'd gotten tangled in some of the vines strung between the two giant trees embedded in the ship. He wriggled, but found he couldn't get out. Below he saw the lopsided face of Squint. He smirked up at him.

"End of the line, Runt."

Then, the small body slipped from the vines and plummeted down. Cross felt the wind n his fur, and spun slowly, seeing nothing but blurs...then something grabbed him, crashing against him, and the next thing he saw was the sky.

Squint had thrown himself forward to catch him before he'd smacked head-first into what surely would have been a death-inducing collision with the ice floor. The boy in his arms lay limp, eyes wide, as if not really understanding what had just happened. Squint didn't, either. He doubted this runt was needed alive, but him dying on his watch wouldn't look good...that's what he reasoned, anyway.

He stood up and gripped the kit by the ears rather than holding him secure anymore, glaring foully at him. Cross's eyes widened and he curled up like a kitten, head bent and ears flopped. Squint's mouth twitched in a sneer; "Don't give me that look! You caused me a lotta trouble, Pipsqueak!"

His lip trembled. Squint's temper flared, and he pointed a finger directly between his eyes. "I just saved your sorry little tail! Don't you DARE-"

Cross's little blunt, not-yet-buck teeth clamped over his hand, as if by pure instinct rather than though. Squint gave a high-pitched yelp of pain; releasing him, and the grey blur dashed away once again. Squint gripped his hand and there was a surprised blink around him; from the members of the crew left gob-smacked at the somehow vicious, dreamy little ball.

Cross sprinted on, towards a porthole. The pirates gaped at him as he slid through it, giving a happy squeak. Kai squealed. Cocoum, above, felt his jaw hang open in horror. But, as he swung to the other mast, then right to the edge of a branch to peer over...he saw him being whipped out of sight by one of the rats.

And, he also saw them giving him a thumbs-up. His mind whirled. He turned his head, mouth still open dumbly, wondering if anyone else had seen...but apparently they hadn't. Kai was crying and the pirates stared, eyes wide, at where the kit had supposedly fallen to his death. They didn't look remorseful. The rabbit pirate was gripping his bitten hand, staring, and Cocoum almost saw something on his face before he looked away, scowling.

Supposed even pirates feel something when one of their kind dies...but Cross, the funny bunny, wasn't dead. The rats where...helping them? He turned his head; eyeing Silas lounging by the fruit below, unable to see any of this. Gutt had been at the helm, looking bored and unfazed by what happened. He was the only one up here.

And being the only one up here, he saw the bat woman chattering to the armadillo. She was hiding beneath one of the skulls that the badger used as a drum; how she could managed to touch it was beyond him. Then, like a turtle, she slid back under the skull scuttled back to the pile of bones nearby; unseen. He chuckled; it was rather funny.

Argeth kept his eyes shut and the group remained lethargic. Cocoum looked away and placed on the most sorrowful expression he could managed when he felt like jumping off all the branches. They had a plan; Maut and Cross and the crazy rats where running around like they owned the place. He did his best not to grin, lifting his gaze to Gutt. He was lounging against a thick slab of ice making up the bulky back of the ship; relaxed. His brows where slid up his forehead; almost vanishing into his untidy head-hair. As if knowing he was being watched, he glanced upwards. Cocoum stared back, wondering what to do.

He couldn't make a face; he'd give off the fact he wasn't horrified that the bunny child had supposedly died.

So he looked at his feet; wiggling his lower fingers, hoping Gutt couldn't read minds.

...

Raz nudged Kai once more to get her to quieten. She'd sobbed for ten minutes after the demise of the bunny child; Raz had commented it was an easier death, getting eaten by narwhals, than starving or facing Gutt...but that just made the joey cry for yet another ten minutes. She didn't pretend to mourn the child, but she didn't feel like grinning like Gupta and Silas had. Annoying, yes, but it wasn't exactly a victory.

She eyed Squint, who was quietly throwing daggers at a target made up of impaled fruit. A waste of food; but she didn't object. She wondered what was going on nowadays. Gutt hadn't offed the ape child, she was looking after this spineless joey and Squint almost looked...remorseful for letting the bunny brat die.

Raz glanced at the porthole the child had slipped through. Then again, he'd vanished before. Maybe he was huddled somewhere, hiding. Maybe it had been a trick of the eyes that they'd seen him fall overboard...

Kai was hugging a dagger, thankfully a blunt one, as if it were a comforting object. She sniffled miserably. Raz regarded her with disdain. It had been millions of times now that she'd told her to toughen up; it wasn't happening. Raz felt her arm lifted a little, but forced it back down. Then, after seeing the child continue to weep, she lifted her paw once more and ruffled the unkempt hair on her head. The child stared on ahead, sniffing, before curling up against her hip. Raz heaved a sigh, and continued sharpening her weapon, thankful that no one was watching.

"Don' get used to nice treatment. Life on sea only gets harda'." She meant that, truthfully. This joey curled beside her wouldn't be here long. Kindness wasn't Raz's strong point, nor did she intend for it to be so. Part of her almost felt bad that the child would eventually have to be lost. Almost.

...

That night, Clementine kept her eyes closed, and kept herself still. She was stiff, sore, and starving, but a raw burning she'd never quite tasted was alight in her chest and stomach. Yet, she knew she had to keep still, look defeated. Argeth's plan was insane, really. Overthrowing a pirate ship was ludicrous, so why did it sound so promising?

_Probably because you have no options left._

Argeth had asked her if any herbs induced sleep. She'd mulled over that- her memory of herbs almost seemed clouded by her hunger and the pain of her stiff bones and wounds; but then she remembered a time she'd mixed two herbs by accident and it left the healed animal groggy. Not exactly sleep, but slightly groggy.

She emphasised the 'slightly' but Argeth took it as enough. Clementine didn't know if she had nearly enough to get giants like the ape and seal to feel it; and it meant less herbs for healing should it not work...but what option, again, did they have?

Cross was fine, and she was glad she hadn't seen the event. She was sure she would have had a heart attack if she thought for even a second he'd gone overboard. Thank goodness for fire-loving rats...

A slowly approaching sound of footsteps made her eyes slid open. They'd been left alone up till now; it was dark and she was sure the others were asleep. Her ears allowed her to catch the light feet of Squint. She frowned, slowly, as he came to stand before her. He didn't get too close, and he himself was scowling.

"...'Ey, Girlie."

She didn't reply. She watched him rub the back of his neck, scowling still, and wondered why he was quiet all of a sudden. Feeling frustrated and her fear of him pretty much diminished, she remarked coldly. "Come to rub in what happened?"

"No." He glared back, arms tight against his sides. Clementine wondered if he simply said this because of her tone rather than the subject of her words. She glowered back. Safe or not, his treatment of Cross had pushed her fear of this lopsided buck to hate.

Squint glanced away from her, and Clementine had to hide her surprise. "He wasn't even yours, anyway."

"He was a child." She said, her voice husky, "And he'd done nothing to you."

"He bit me!"

"You where chasing him."

"Hey, if he stayed put...!" Squint kicked the ice ground, remarkably not hurting his large toe, and folded his spindly arms. Clementine tilted her head slowly. He couldn't possibly feel guilty, could he? He seemed angry, but not...sorry. She heaved a sigh. She really needed to stop looking for redeeming features in pirates though granted the kangaroo woman hadn't harmed Kai just yet...

"I thought you'd be cryin', girlie." Squint remarked, eyeing her. She glanced up at him slowly, tired. She tried to think of an excuse.

"...I'll be joining him soon, won't I?" She murmured, trying to sound solemn. Squint cocked a brow, then that familiar snide grin appeared.

"Oh yeah...though, Girlie, you still answer ta me, you know..."

She scowled at that, "If you think that'll scare me, Squint, it won't." She didn't know who was more surprised by her tone, him or herself, "I know you won't do anything worse than tossing blades at me."

He lunged, pointing his blade directly under her chin. Clementine tipped her head back; hitting it against the bark. She narrowed her eyes, trying to control her breathing. His crooked teeth where gritted in a twisted snarl; she could see his slightly chipped teeth far too closely. "Oh yeah, girlie? Who says I won't, now that you're gettin' on my nerves even more?"

"My name's Clementine." She found herself rasping in response, feeling her stomach churn in unease, but too angry this time to let it bother her. "And yes, you won't. You don't have the guts."

Squint's bloodshot eyes blazed. For a split second he raised his knife and Clementine wondered if he'd actually do it- then a voice in the centre of the deck called him away. Giving a growl he whipped off, but not before sending Clementine a threatening sneer. She returned a frown herself. The next time the two would meet wouldn't end well.


	26. Chapter 26

_Sorry for the wait, and I apologize for the wait to come. Exhausted now that I'm working on stuff again, dunno if I'll be able to fit too much writing in for the time being. That aside, I hope you like this chapter ^^_

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Going Under Chapter 26

Overthrow the Cutthroat

Their next plan was clear. They needed to get Clementine free. In order to concoct the sleeping draft they would need her gone from her bonds, and able to work. Even if it was for a short time, they needed that to be done. Clementine supposed someone else could dash the herbs she'd create into the food of the pirates, be it Maut or Cross or the slightly insane rats.

Argeth assured they'd deal with that part later.

Clementine glanced at the armadillo; he glanced back. Their heads where drooped as if still weakened and asleep; eyes only open a crack. Clementine knew playing defeated would only last so long; especially if they truly became too starved and weak to keep their eyes open.

Clementine's senses went for a whirl when suddenly her bounds where sliced and she fell face-down on the ground, having not been prepared. She lifted her head and spotted Raz leering above, looking less than happy with whatever the situation was. Kurues had scuttled like a startled spider to get back to his feet. Clementine saw with relief that his leg had not caught infection and was healing much more now...he'd escaped being crippled by a hair.

The kangaroo nudged her with the blunt end of her staff. "Ay, Dolly Daydream, ye got work ta do." Clementine raised her groggy head and retorted with a scowl,

"Like we'll last much longer without any food..." She muttered, sourly. Part of her weakly reminded herself she could get mauled for this and thus ruin the plan, but her hunger overtook her wariness. Raz snorted spitefully,

"Ye'll get food. Don' think you'll die that peacefully."

Clementine decided not to reply, but the two females ended the conversation with a shared, heated glare. Argeth was left tied up; Kurues and Clementine being nudged to the centre of the deck. Glett was left forgotten, apparently.

Clementine tried to keep her head bent and her eyes drooped despite desperately needing to look around and think of how to give few more details to the plan. Where she'd make the draught, where she would set up the tainted food...but she needed to look weak and-

A cold, smooth material brushed against her arm. Her fur prickled and she jerked her head to the side; lo and behold, there was Squint. He regarded her with a familiar air of disdain and gleeful malice; a half-smile tainting his already mixed up face. Clementine frowned curtly before slowly sliding by Kurues's leg. They came to a halt before the lounging Captain. Kurues's lean head was bent in weakness, but Clementine caught a sharp red-brown eye looking down at her. Their gazes met.

They weren't beaten.

"So."

Gutt regarded the two woebegone mammals with a casual look; as if his interest in their torment was faltering. "You two look _terrible."_

Clementine scowled to herself, forcing her eyes to her large feet as a familiar snicker ignited through the ranks. She didn't know what had made her temper so on edge, but repetitive pirates where certainly an ingredient. Kurues looked indignant, but neither said anything.

They should have hid it more. Gutt threw back his head and gave a grating, raucous laugh, one that made them cringe. "Ho-ho! Such defiance for such weather-beaten landlubbers."

He stood; his bulky form unusually quick as he stepped towards them; towering over them in height. Kurues didn't dare lift his head but glared upward at him in silent. Clementine could see the crew grinning crookedly at their expense. Gutt's eyes where narrowed, unimpressed, but perhaps amused.

"Good to see you two are growing some back-bone, especially when a little birdie told me you two where probably the _least _expendable."

Clementine's heart leaped. Least? Did that mean he found them useful? The first thing that came to her mind was time- they'd bought time. Then she spotted the slimy-smiled gull eyeing her nearby. His wing, by her eye, was getting better. She'd probably let him keep that splint on for longer, though, no sense alerting him he could seek out fresh prey...

_Don't let your mind wander._

She must have been getting too hungry.

Clementine looked back at Gutt, trying to remain nervous-looking. Kurues cleared his throat, finally speaking in what seemed like years.

"Expendable?" He murmured.

The ape rolled his eyes theatrically, "Didn't you get the memo by now?"

"Sorry, you mustn't have been clear enough." Kurues must have been beside Argeth too long. Gutt didn't like it one little bit. Clementine forced herself to stay in place, her eyes screwed shut, as she heard the unmistakable sound of slicing claws ring in the air. The pirates cheered lowly as Kurues smacked against the floor, fresh scratches crossing over the ones already littering his face. Clementine opened her eyes and watched him mournfully, her hands gripped tight together in front of her frail body.

She turned her head back to look at Gutt, and found the claws where right in front of her. She caught the air in her lungs and held it, staring at them, seeing the stains of red along the sharp surface. Her heart hammered against her chest.

"Got something to say, Spitefire?" She looked up and their eyes locked. Probably the only time he actually recognised she was there. She shook her head, slowly, forcing her eyes downward once more.

"No." Her voice was a strangled hiss of a broken breath. Gutt chuckled inwardly and withdrew the malicious hand; Clementine breathed out. Raz caught her eye a moment later, and hefted her chin- gesturing for her to follow. Clementine did so, glancing back at Kurues, but he'd already gotten to his feet. She assured herself he'd be fine.

...

Gruelling would be the best way to describe working in a half-starved condition. Clementine had been given food, enough to live but not enough to decrease the exhaustion in her stiff, sore body. She forced herself to move. Helping Raz was a blessing compared to other things; Kai had been returned to Glett and Cocoum and told to stay put.

Clementine was able to sharp weapons much more proficiently, something she knew the kangaroo had noticed. She wasn't experienced, but she'd worked with her hands with difficult materials for the majority of her adult life. Poisonous plants where only a step up from sharp blades.

Night was beginning to fall. Clementine shifted away from Raz's line of sight for a few blessed moments, huffing with exhaustion. But, the day wasn't done with her it seemed.

"Psst!"

She turned her head. Maut was peering through one of the portholes. Exhausted but glad to see her, she moved over, knelling down to see her better.

"H-hey..."

"You got time to make the stuff?" Maut asked quietly. Clementine chewed on her lip,

"Probably will have soon, when they think we're asleep. Getting it on the food is another matter."

"Tell me 'bout it, that Buck o' yours is guardin' the food so you can't sneak anymore back." Maut had obviously been keeping an eye out. Clementine huffed. Of all people to be keeping an eye on the food, it had to be him. Clementine frowned, seeing a spark in the blue eyes of the bat.

"...You have an idea, don't you?"

_And why do I have the idea that I'm not going to like it at all?_

Maut tilted her eyes up, as if feigning indifference but clearly not. "Hmmm...well. I had one that involves distractin' said buck while someone else dips the sleepy stuff on the pirate's num-nums."

Clementine raised a brow, finding her choice of words inappropriately funny. "Oookay...?"

Maut grinned at her suddenly and her stomach did a small flip. Yes indeed she wasn't going to like this.

"You're gonna be doin' the distractin', but not that running stuff, Clemmy." The doe frowned slowly, wondering what she was getting at. Then she saw just how she was smirking; like a mischievous prankster. Her eyes widened as she spelled out her little plot.

"You're gonna use your _feminine _charms..."

Clementine gaped at her. Was she insane? Had she been drinking the sea water? "_What?"_

She could barely keep her voice down, and it was the threat of being maimed when caught that was the only thing keeping her from yelping aloud. Maut chuckled in an infuriating way. Clementine shook her head, all exhaustion gone. "You can't be serious! He despises me, and well- I'm not that kind of- look, it'll never work, not even he's stupid enough to fall for something like that!"

Forgotten images of her older sisters' coyly teasing bucks with their batting eyelashes and 'pretty' grins flashed in her mind, and she felt sickened. Especially when Squint was involved...and he believed the child, Cross, was dead- even he wouldn't buy her seeming interested in him all of a sudden...

"He won't believe it." Clementine said, flustered. Maut snickered, as if knowing.

"Aw, he will. Men always fall for things like that even if it defies all logic...and once the sleepy sprinkles are on the food you can just slip away, give him some excuse after your nice little chat."

"Chat about what?" Clementine retorted. Maut snickered,

"Just about stuff; throw in some subtle compliments. Don't outright go 'I like ya' just...be interested. Even if he gets confused, that'll just make it all the better."

Clementine couldn't believe she was actually considering this. "There has to be another way."

"There ain't...unless you wanna hit him and get yourself tied up again."

Clementine groaned, tugging at her floppy ears in dismay. Would she have to pretend to be interested in such a loathsome creature? Was it worth it?

Her mind shrieked no, but then she remembered Cross, and Cocoum, and little Kai. They all needed her. She couldn't back out for her own dignity to be saved; pride meant nothing when you where no longer living.

"...All right." She sighed. Maut giggled,

"I knew you'd come 'round. Don' worry, seeing his face when he realizes he's been tricked will be worth it."

Clementine felt a smile tug at the edge of her lips. "...And just how are you so experienced in tricking men like so?"

Maut's eyes seemed to freeze in their merry state. Clementine grinned, and the two of them snickered quietly.

...

"Ey, Runt, where are ya?"

Raz gazed over the side of the deck, unable to locate the little ball of fawn fur among the slabs and piles of fruit. Small critters like her could slip away easily, and she didn't like it. Part of the reason Squint annoyed her so easily.

And, she couldn't help but feel suspicious. Yes, she knew they had nothing to fight with, barely any food, but the runt hadn't quivered like before, not even when faced with the Captain. Why the confidence all of a sudden?

Maybe, Raz reasoned, she was growing some backbone.

She sighed, lifting a paw to massage the muscles on her brow. She'd been frowning all day it seemed, it was getting hard to keep it up. She didn't know why the younger female had caught her attention; it wasn't as if she related to her at all. But, she wasn't as weak as she thought she was. Perhaps respect was the thing she felt, but...not pity.

She was impressed, though, no one that size could ever face look the Captain in the eye and not faint- unless they where Squint. But bravery and stupidity where two different things.

Yep. Being female wasn't easy, Raz reasoned. She supposed seeing someone other than Shira around made her feel better for some reason.

Clementine came back into view, looking slightly dizzy. Raz sniffed, "Come on, ye ain't that exhausted."

"You'd be surprised." She replied, but only half-heartedly, clearly not up for another argument. They hadn't really spoken when working together. Then, the doe looked at her, eyes sharp.

"When Squint dragged me off, and they all laughed...why did you laugh, even after I burnt you?"

Raz stared back, feeling affronted that she brought the thing they'd left unspoken about. But, for some reason unknown to her, she decided to be honest. "No pity, that's fer sure. I didn' like the ideas they where snickerin' at nor do I like men being the way they are."

Clementine's eyes widened slightly, but not too much. "...Oh."

Raz didn't give her room to continue the talk, turning away. "C'mon. Work ain't done for you, Shorty..."

Wordlessly, she hopped off, the rabbit quietly following behind.


	27. Chapter 27

_This is the longest wait ever for an Ice Age update. I've had a terribly hectic time; assignments, homework, trips, school...I've been exhausted and far from thinking about writing. I've still got stacks of homework to focus on, so the next update...seems bleak. I'm sorry for the delays, but life isn't nice to hobbies at this time._

_This chapter was written less cringie because I couldn't handle it. Hope you like ^^_

* * *

Going Under Chapter 27

Deceptions

It was night. Clementine had might as well say goodbye to whatever dignity this ocean had left her. Though, judging by the fact she was the lackey slave of a bunch of murderous pirates, perhaps it wasn't too much of a loss after all.

Clementine peered around the icy formation making up the 'walls' dotted around the back of the helm. It was secluded here; probably a good way of keeping the window from knocking over the smaller piles of fruit gathered around. She almost felt like one of those idle pieces of fruit just waiting to be sliced apart...

Clementine shook her head, sea-beaten ears flopped tiredly with it. There was nothing for it, she had to do this now. She just had to keep in mind that she was doing this as an act against the pirates; a part of a plan designed to bring them down. The smell of the herbs she'd made drifted up from her hands and she dusted them off, realizing that she shouldn't give anything away.

The draught had taken up most of her important herbs; a sacrifice she hoped would prove worth it. Kurues lay nearby, feigning sleep. Clementine hoped he'd be able to rest eventually. Maut had slipped some info in about the plan and he felt disgusted that Clementine had to do such a thing. Clementine had found it hard to try and argue with him, she knew there was no alternative.

So, she slowly strode from the quiet dwelling among the piles of fruit. This fruit was up for storage; the pirates wouldn't eat it for a while. It would take too long if she doused these in her herbs; it had to be the pile they currently snacked from...the ones on deck.

The crew was mostly at the front of the ship; what they were doing she didn't know, but it seemed the front of the berg was much sharper. Guess they where upgrading. With a glance sideways she saw Squint pacing slowly near the bounty the pirates where currently using as a food course; a wide clam shell stacked with fruit.

But, she smelt the smell of fish nearby, and saw with alarm that a few fish where hanging from the mast opposite the one Argeth and the others were tied to. Of course...that Shira and some others would probably require something other than fruit.

She walked on, noting how close she was getting to Squint's line of sight. He was twirling that dagger of his idly in his paw, smirking lightly, as if enjoying happily demented thoughts. Clementine smoothed down her rigid ears to try and relax her posture. She didn't flinch as his eyes spotted her at last, and a suspicious looked flocked over his mangled features.

"'Ey, Girlie. Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing much..." She forced her voice to be calm, offhanded, and she placed her paws behind her back. "What are you doing?"

He blinked, and it was clear he hadn't expected that answer and needed to re-process the lump of meat in his head he called a brain. Clementine kept herself calm, watching him.

"Nothin' that concerns you." Squint finally decided upon, smirking faintly. Clementine glanced away, shrugging.

"What do you usually do in your spare time...?"

This was not going well._ Very smooth, Clementine..._

"Usually play darts and beat the badger." Squint commented, playing with the sharp tip of his blade. Clementine eyed him, placing her paws behind her back and slowly striding around. She racked her brain for the almost forgotten memories of her sisters and their stomach-churning ways they wound up the males, her eldest sisters doing it so they would do favours for them- go get berries and whatnot. Only this time she was doing it not for greed, but to survive. She focused on that, and the horrible fate she received it she didn't.

She stepped forward, cursing herself for moving too quick. Squick blinked at her, noticing she'd willingly come this close. She even saw...apprehension? No, probably shock or confusion...

"You know, it's strange, you're always...looking at me." She noted, the words tasting horrible in her mouth. She didn't have the nerve yet to put on the coy tones her sisters used; all smooth and sultry. She settled for offhanded.

Squint's lopsided eyes finally seemed to match; both very broad. "...Uhh..." Clementine tried not to laugh. Now who was clueless...?

_Focus, you half-brained bunny._

Oddly enough to heard that line in her head in Maut's voice rather than her own usual self reprimand.

Clementine glanced downwards, eyes half-lidded in what she hoped looked the way she wished. "Things can get a bit...isolated on the sea, right...? Though you don't strike me as someone who'd be afraid of being left alone..." Shameless flattery; but she circled him a little, eyeing his back sourly when he couldn't see. He saw his ears lift a bit, boisterous and prideful.

"I ain't afraid, Girlie..." Clementine switched her sour look back to her casual, offhanded, brow-raised facade when she saw him look over his shoulder at her, "Are you?"

_...Is he responding to this flirting that easily? Does he even see this as flirting? My sisters would be in hysterics of laughter if they saw me now..._

Clementine allowed the faintest of smiles to appear in response to the smirk on the buck's face. "Not really..."

He turned to face her, leaning on his dagger; swiftly embedded in the ice. "Ya used to be...what changed?" He was grinning far too much. Clementine resisted the urge to back away and she instead moved slightly closer, head bent but eyes lifted.

"...You could say I...opened up a little...got used to the ways the seas move." She said, keeping her voice quiet. Squint tilted his head, grinning still, though a brow was raised.

"Took ya long enough..." He remarked.

Clementine did something she'd never dared do to anyone. She lifted her paw and, before she could hesitate or Squint could move, she slid a finger across his cheek, "Your face always been crooked? I was curious..."

He'd frozen stiff at her touch. He was...cold, and raggedy. It had almost felt like brushing her hand against brittle, dried grass. The salt of the sea must have long roughened his fur. It could have hurt, had her own paw been any softer. Clementine had done all she could not to let her arm waver, but it did. Luckily he didn't see it.

Squint drew back a bit, blinking, but clearly didn't want his pride to slip. "Yeah, it's my name, Girlie, 'course its gonna..." He frowned a bit. Clementine kept her face a slightly grin, but worried. Squint looked back at her, and smirked. Her eyes widened slightly- she couldn't help it- as he flicked a finger past her ear. Clementine blinked once and relaxed.

Squint cackled, "Still nervy deep down, Girlie."

Clementine's eyes narrowed slowly. "...Its Clementine." She said, slowly, with no emotion. Squint rose a crooked brow, slowly. He seemed to be contemplating. On what? Calling her by her name or by her gender?

He cackled, moving around a bit and swinging his dagger onto his shoulder. Clementine side-stepped, finding herself near their food. Her paws behind her back, she grabbed the draught she made.

"You're funny, _Clemmy." _ He said in a half-sneer. Clementine tilted her head, and dropped the thin liquid onto the fruit. It had been doused on fruit juice to avoid any taste being found too early.

"...So are you...Squinty." She replied. Job done. And she hadn't needed to get...embarrassingly close. Subtle flirting had been enough. She close stepped back, offering a faint grin.

"...See you around..." She imitated the sultry tone of her sisters, feeling ill inwardly, and wandered off, her blood rushing and heart pounding. Squint did not come after her. It took her all her will power not to look back.

"...Wha' was all that 'bout?"

_...Oh No..._

Raz was leaning against the ice formation of the back of the ship, arms crossed, eyes narrowed and locked down on the small mammal. Clementine frowned back slowly.

"I know you ain' serious 'bout that stuff, so why?" Raz's voice was curt. She'd seen right through her act it seemed...

Clementine folded her arms slowly. "Not everyone is tall with an arsenal of weapons. I needed to get him to stop trying to hurt me, and that was the only way- though it made me want to vomit." She whispered, her voice low and grating.

...She never thought she could sound like this.

Raz snorted, "I thought you 'ad some kinda respect for yourself."

Clementine watched her quietly, and heaved a sigh. "I think you overestimate me. And you have no idea how tough that was to pull off. The only one loosing dignity is him for believing a trick."

The two females stood glowering at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then the kangaroo scoffed and looked away, "Whateva..."

"You don't know me. And why should I care what you think?" Clementine moved past her, her back stiff. She half expected to be kicked away for that, but no such hit came. She curled next to Kurues, trying to keep still, her nerves shaking like leaves in the wind.

Kurues waited until Raz had hopped off to open his eyes. "...Did you do it?"

"...They'll sleep like sloths." Clementine felt a smile teak her lips. Kurues laughed quietly; exhaustion evident in his hollow voice.

"You sure are something, Clementine..." He drifted off to sleep, finally at better ease than usual. Clementine leaned against him, eyes sliding shut...but not before she caught sight of the bat woman who had masterminded this by the porthole.

She made a thumbs-up gesture with her clawed little hand before slipping down out of view. Clementine closed her eyes. She really should have been mad at her...

...

Raz didn't care what trickery the rabbit doe had going; she thought it was pretty lame. She moved past the mast where the joey, little ape and armadillo where still tied. The turtle-like creature watched her from where he was tethered down; a loathsome look on his face. She ignored him, sniffing indifferently.

The joey was staring around the floor with wide, overly sharp eyes. Not shivering, but clearly still far from leaving her paranoid ways behind. She glanced upwards at her, swallowing. Raz gave a half-smirk.

"You likin' yer sea life?"

"...No..." She mumbled in return, shaking her head. Raz rolled her eyes.

"Don' get sarcasm much, eh?"

Kai watched her uneasily; her mouth closed. Then she glanced at her pouch. "How come weapons go in there 'stead of babies?"

Raz scowled indignantly at the blunt question. This is why she'd never liked children. "That's because no' every female oughta have kids, Shorty. Watch wha' ye say, it makes me mad."

Kai glanced downwards, watery blue eyes mournful, but thankfully without tears. "Sorry..."

Raz hated that little voice. "...Whateva."

"...You're a strong lady. I wish I could do the stuff you do, but I'm all small." She mumbled after a while. Raz stared at her.

"...Yer talkin' to a pirate, Joey..."

"...Uh huh...pirates are scary, but they're strong." She murmured. Suddenly that little voice of hers didn't seem so insufferable. Raz folded her arms and forced an eye-roll this time, feeling...awkward. She didn't like that.

"Yer right on that one. Dunno how it helps ye, though..."

She kept her tone indifferent. Kai looked up at her, chewing on her lip.

"...It means we hafta be...strong, too...which means we have to be less nice."

Raz cocked a brow at that...interesting observation. "...Whaddaya mean?"

Kai looked over the sleeping group she now called her own, her eyes half-open in tired, but thoughtful contemplation. "...You have to be mean to be strong...that's what the armadillo man says...and...I think he's right...being nice doesn't work."

"...Glad ye figured it out. Better said than done fer this group o' yours, though." Raz couldn't help but grin, knowing it would scare her, but the jab was too irresistible. Kair glanced down.

"...Yeaaah..."

Raz heard Shira calling, and turned away. "Get some shut eye, Joey. Ye never know when it'll be the last."


	28. Chapter 28

_Long wait again; After finishing homework I decided to do this all in a motivational academic rush. Don't expect more of that, I'm getting exhausted...and doing chapters for another fic that has twice as much chapter length as this...well its hard to keep up a routine._

_A new character is about to appear, and you Squint and Clementine lovers will despise him...don't worry, he's there to add dynamic. He'll appear soon... He was one of the 'other AU' ideas I had, along with Cross._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 28

How to Steal Pirates Ships

Cross sniffed the air. Cold, and filled with salt. Every since he left land, that smell had clogged up his nose to the point where it was numb and useless; the wind carried no sent but sea, the ice held no lasting scent of any creature. But, after a while, the salty smell began to fade- or at least become less and less strong. He wondered why that was. Opening his eyes, he found it was dark; light peering off the reflected surface of the icy tunnel. It was night, but the moon had to be out. And it was very, very quiet.

He hopped along the tunnel, ears up, not knowing why he was suddenly prompted to go out. He knew the rats shimmied up to the deck on vines; though how vines grew out of ice rather than trees he'd never know. He peered out of the little tunnel-hole, and saw the gentle waves hitting against the berg. He smiled, seeing his reflecting beam back at him. Sometimes, it was the only thing that knew what was going on besides him. Slowly, he shimmied up the vine. He knew he had to be quiet; to be still.

He peered through the thing the bat called a port-hole that was really just a bigger hole in the side of the ship. And...He saw all of the pirates sleeping. Usually when he peaked up here some of them where at least a little awake. He tilted his head; an ear flopping over his eye.

Then, he heard whispers. His head turned. A smiled stretched across his face. The lady, Clementine, was cutting away at the vines holding the armadillo man and the ape boy to the giant trunk; setting them free. He scrambled up and ran across to them, giggling, forgetting he had to be quiet.

To his surprise, Clementine didn't shush him. She spotted him coming and a grin slipped onto her face, and she scooped him up and spun him gently in the air. The feeling was so warm and familiar that Cross felt as if he where glowing. He cuddled close, beaming up at her. Clementine chuckled, her chest rumbling. He rested his head against her, hearting her heartbeat.

The armadillo dusted himself off, scowling...as he always did. Cross watched him, nose twitching, as he dragged the vines that had kept them bound up towards the pirate meanies. Curiously, he watched him begin to wind the vines around their feet. He glared up at the giant, giant ape as he did so. Cross almost giggled at how silly the ape looked; head tilted and mouth partly open.

Clementine placed Cross down. Kai, the small jumping not-rabbit but rabbit-like creature came hopping up beside Cross. He looked up at her. She looked incredibly happy and he didn't know why-

He was squished in her arms. She'd hugged him tight, and he found it hard to breath. "Eee..."

The ape boy appeared, grinning widely as he usually did. Cross beamed, not knowing why the pirates where sleeping, not knowing why everyone was happy, but liking it immensely.

Clementine smoothed down her ears. Now, they had a chance to escape, yet she felt more relaxed than she had in weeks. Drugged pirates tied up where far more preferable than pirates awake and ready to kill. Now, all they had to do was get away and fast- so they didn't find out their direction. She glanced over the side of the ship, eyeing the narwhales. They could follow...

"...The fish. Is there any left-over?" She murmured. Kurues glanced sideways and spotted some of the fish that Clementine had drugged had still not been eaten. Then, he followed her gaze to the patrolling narwhals. "...Ah..."

"It won't make them fall asleep as much with that small amount..." Clementine lamented, though was slightly happier- she didn't wish for them to drown. "They'll just be dizzy...they probably not even see us leave."

"When did you turn into such a strategist?" Kurues grinned, though an approving sparkle was lit in his eyes. Clementine couldn't help but grin. This new found feeling of...not-helplessness was worth any drugging of the wildlife.

Cocoum was giggling nearby. Clementine stared. As Kurues tossed fish overboard with a kick of his legs, Cocoum was poking Gutt's overly messy head hair with a stick. The fawn doe didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified. Argeth was nearby; her eyes slid over to him. He was tying up Squint. She scowled, watching him do it, telling herself she felt no remorse for her trickery. He treated her like dirt; he did not deserve her morality-stricken pity.

Argeth caught her eye. "...They'll live, though they don't deserve it...none o' 'um."

Kai shot a glimpse over at Raz. Clementine did, too. She turned her head to the jill; frowning fiercely even in her deepest sleep. She almost heard her in her head, calling her a coward for attacking so sneakily. The doe heaved a sigh. Whatever respect she had of the one who protected Kai (in a reluctant way, mind you) she couldn't extend it to keeping herself in death's way.

"We need a new ship." Argeth did not even grin like the others, dusting his hands off now that the crew, including its insufferable bird look-out, where tied up. He turned his stiff, flat head to Cocoum, "Hey, monkey boy, if you're done bugging the hairlines, could you tell me if you say any hunks of ice that are useful?"

Cocoum momentarily stopped poking Gutt's hair with his stick. "Why don' ya look yourself?" He tilted his head twice towards the left. Argeth scoffed; rolling his eye and marching over to the other side of the deck. Now that the happiness of the event had worn off, and the sea had calmed, Clementine saw that an icy musk had lifted into the air; not mist from the sky, but icy fog caused by...

...Ice. Large blocks of it where floating towards them. Clementine didn't see any made in the shape of a suitable ship just yet. They must have drifted north...

"Have we gone further than we thought?" Kurues murmured, peering over Argeth's head. Argeth continued watching the waters.

"...We've been on the sea longer than we've realised..." He muttered back, slowly. As if he himself, master of knowing everything they apparently didn't, hadn't realized this until now. Clementine swallowed, glancing over at the three children (Oh look, Cocoum had stopped poking Gutt's head) and decided to throw their minds off that disturbing observation.

"They you three...see which one of you can spot a ship we could use first." She murmured, smiling gently. Kai's nervous demeanour faded and she smiled back, eagerly peering over. Cross, instead of looking amongst the blocks of ice, looked under a stick nearby.

Cocoum leaped back onto the mast and scaled it quickly, if not wobbly, using a scope he'd swiped from Gutt's limp hand. Instead of spotting a ship, however, a toothy grin appeared. He blinked and lowered the scope, seeing none other than Maut had appeared, dangling from the vines.

"Hey y'all...I see we're back in business."

Kurues grinned up at her, "Couldn't have done it without your devious self."

"Says Mr Pretend to Be A Push-over, then drugging Narwhals a moment later." Maut remarked, though she was grinning, too.

"I see one, I see one...!"

"Huh." Argeth observed Kai's eagerly pointing hand. Up ahead was an almost too ideal ship; small, but sharp-looking. Clementine spotted a line of rocks encrusted in the top-ice; providing a bulky side and a sharp side. Maybe those rocks could be useful...

"Kurues, give me a hand..." Agreth was...positioning a cannon. Cocoum was helping him, having leaped down from the branches for a much more 'fun' activity. "Argeth..."

"Shooting out those skulls to reel it in. You guys start rounding up food. Look for stuff that'll last." Kurues said, trotting over to aid the armadillo. Clementine nodded. She told herself the draught would make sure they did not hear it, and she quickly moved with Maut to gather fruit. Klue was already there, apparently having come up while Maut was chattering to them. He smiled over at Clementine, but no words were exchanged as they began dragging shells of food.

The group couldn't help but cringe when a skull-vine reel was blasted out by Kurues's strong kick. Clementine glanced over at Squint, seeing his ear twitch...but he did not awaken. Breathing out, she helped the others drag more food.

They reeled in the ship together. Clementine noticed how less rough her hands where; how much it had hurt to do this same activity when she'd first come off land. Raz's works echoed in her head, but she ignored them.

Maut's now healed wing allowed her to swoop down and double-check the ship and narwhals. She smirked and gave a thumbs-up. Argeth gave a stiff nod, a heavy silence now present as he moved over to the many weapon stacks nearby. Clementine and Kurues exchanged a look.

...It was necessary. They both knew. But Kurues was hesitant.

"Do we really want to be like them...?" He murmured to Argeth. The armadillo glanced darkly over his shoulder, lifting up a dagger and fiddling with the tip.

"We're not going to hunt innocents. These weapons are for these jerks only...I promise."

Kurues watched him quietly. Then, he gave a nod. Glett grabbed a few daggers by the hilt with his mouth, shuffling over to the side of the deck. Clementine slowly moved off to pick up a dagger lying near Squint. Not his fish-bone one, but a partner of it he's thrown at her. She scooped it up, staring over it, feeling uneasy, yet not as much as she'd thought she'd be.

He stirred, and his lopsided eyes opened. Clementine's chest tightened. The buck tried to move, and was instantly held back by the vines encasing his whole body. He stiffened, eyes staring up at her, as he slowly figured out what was happening. Clementine stared back with ever-midevening eyes. Then, fury contorted his face into a murderous sneer and his mouth opened-

Clementine shoved an idle fruit into his mouth; jamming it shut and her shaking hands gripped his bounds and shoved him back to his stomach. Her mind had whirled; don't let him see which way we go, don't let him yell. He mustn't have eaten as much as she thought.

She stared down at him, huffing, and gripping the knife. He watched her with boiling hatred; he wanted to tear her apart; muffled threats drowned out by her pounding heart. Slowly, she frowned back, straightening up and shooting what sure look she could muster, holding her knife.

They shared the glower for a while before Argeth approached, scowling, and he lifted the blunt end of his own dagger and brought it down on Squint's head. The last thing the pirate saw where the two knife-wielding survivors frowning down at him; and...Clementine.

He wasn't going to forget his newfound enemy's name anytime soon.

...

The roar that punctuated the morning made the bloodthirsty, raw, toughed pirates cower like newborn mice. The raucous growl that followed was accompanied by the shredding of bark; and the collision of bone against the icy grounds. Gutt's rampage lasted a few seconds, but it felt like years. His claws left six violent gashes in the mast; the weapons scattered and the fruit scattered like ants. His heaving bulk strode to the icy blocks embedded in the back of the ship. His fist clenched, and lashed out.

His crew shrank back as the block of ice, bigger than himself, was shattered into hundreds of pieces on the ground. Gutt stood with his back facing them; shoulders heaving as if inhaling smoke rather than the salty air.

Then, finally, his murderous, grating voice creeped at them like a panther.

"...When we find them, I want _bones _broken, limbs _torn off, _eyes _blinded..." _

He turned slowly, his face pulled into the lowest it could go; brow wrinkled and bloodshot eyes burning right threw them. They drew back, slowly, as he approached.

"I want at least half of them _dead_..." He said, almost _softly_...then he slammed a fist down; cracks spreading from his flesh, as if running from it.

The crew held its breath.

"_I WANT THEM __**DESTORYED**_!"

The roar reverberated off the restless sea; across the waters, and bounced off the broken ice drifting idly in its embrace. Away from sight, Argeth raised his head, hearing the faintest of cries, rapid and raving, like a rouge. He stood at the back of their new ship, among the rocks planted in the ice, locked in its hold. The roar was desperate and violent, monstrous and unrelenting. It did not sound like the person he'd once knew.

_Gradual is how nature works, Argeth..._ A voice, whose owner he hoped to forget, wheezed in his mind, _slowly so you don't even see it...forget my words now, look at that rock...when you are grown, I'll call you back, and point it out to you...if it changes...well..._

Argeth closed his eyes, his brow heavy and lined.

_The game is upping the anti, Guver...come at me. I will beat you like I always did. You can't bring me down...not even this way. Not even by becoming a monster will you beat me..._

His lips turned upwards in the slightest of smirks.

...

_The first time he'd seen blood on his friend's hands had been when they were teenagers. He said he'd fought a tiger; he'd won. It had attacked him, he had no choice. Argeth had watched him walk into the clearing among the frozen trees; the snow had stopped falling, and it seemed the place had become deserted...when he had appeared. No, they had not all vanished. But as he sat, speaking to Guver about what happened with the saber, he did not notice the other animals slowly sliding away._

_Gradually..._

_He had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. Guver was so calm. He'd told himself he just didn't know how it was to be giant and strong; he used tricks to escape...he would not need to use fight to fight..._

_...Keep telling yourself that, Argeth._


	29. Chapter 29

_FINALLY THIS IS DONE._

_Sorry for the wait; got lots of things to do. I'm not doing this story much Like I wished; I'm keeping it too light-hearted and comedy like...the darker stuff will come eventually, if I have the guts._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 29

Adding Tension

Clementine's arms ached as she stuck the sharp end of the spear into the side of their new ship. They had spent the evening recreating their last's ships spiky defence; lining the sides with sharp, pointed spears from idle wood. The rocks embedded in the ice of the berg poked good cover from the wind. Clementine felt her whole body had stiffened and become sore; but in a good way.

A way that made you feel like you'd just exercise; getting stronger. There had been little time for rest; Argeth had gone to work almost instantly; filling the small dimples in the berg with fruit, putting good use to the little depressions; hollows now keeping food from rolling around.

Clementine felt her pack bumping against her side and her new dagger latched to her back, held by a vine, tight and secure. Kurues's now healed legs strode past her; the scar faint but present on the back of his leg. Maut, now free to use her wings, flew behind after some rest to make sure nothing tailed them, especially no snobbish birds.

Argeth was working to put some kind of steering stick in the helm; Clementine supposed he copied Gutt's method with vines and whatnot. She straightened up and dusted off her paws. Cross ambled by, spinning slowly in circles. She shared a brief beam with him before moving over to Kai.

Kai was fiddled with a sharp flint, sharpening more sticks. She seemed to want to keep her shivering paws steady. Clementine sat beside her, slowly. "...Hey."

"...'Ello..." She murmured, watery eyes glancing sideways at her before sliding back to her work. A silence passed. Clementine placed a paw on her shoulder. Had she been like this, so quiet and shivery...?

"We'll be fine, Kai..." She murmured, running her paw through her soft head-hair. Kai smiled faintly, but it trembled.

"The pirates will be mad when they catch up..."

Clementine's own smile faded. "They won't, Honey." She murmured, doing her best to keep her voice soft and assuring, something she'd never had from her own mother, "Don't fret over it."

"And if they do we'll be ready for them." Argeth had appeared in their midst, arms folded. Clementine shot him a pointed glare that he ignored. Kai swallowed, fiddling with her hands.

"Will we hafta fight 'um?"

"Yes." Argeth rose a brow at Clementine, gesturing her over. Clementine petted the child's head once before following him, having the insinuation that she wasn't going to like this talk. By the tall rocks making up the back of the ship, Argeth turned on his heel to face her, those arms of his locked in a fold against his flat chest.

"Listen, Clem...I know you want to help her, but that girl's going to get nowhere if she can barely budge during a time of danger."

This again! Clementine's face twitched into a scowl, "I thought we'd settled this."

Argeth held up a hand, rolling his eyes- and action that made her blood boil at witnessing it. "I don't mean that. What I mean is that she's going to have to toughen up whether either of you like it; if the pirates do catch up it means fighting, and this time Gutt won't be letting any of the kids live."

Clementine felt a horrible churn in her chest and stomach. She knew it, deep down, that Kai would most likely be harmed or worse during another fight. No prisoners. The rabbit doe ran a shivery hand along her ears, trying to settle her thoughts. "What do you say we do then, Argeth?"

She hoped, for the sake of any respect she had for him, that he said something else than what she was thinking. Argeth tilted his head,

"She needs to learn how to fight. If anything, teach her how to set things on fire...that tends to work." He grinned a bit – actually grinned. Clementine found herself blinking foolishly. Kai watched her, perplexed, from nearby. Cocoum had appeared beside her, playing with a weapon. Clementine marched over and whipped it away, eyeing them both.

Had she just been given the job of training up a bunch of children? She knew the least about fighting. But, now that she solemnly thought of it, she knew about 'manning up' as Argeth put it. Argeth was standing nearby, watching with piercing, scrutinising eyes. The rabbit settled for ignoring him.

"All right...you need to know some tricks if you're going to avoid the pirates. You can't over power them- barely any of us can – so we'll have to settle for that." Clementine placed the weapon down and scooped up a nearby twig. Cocoum sat down, beaming, Kai curled beside him. Klue had wandered in like a little phantom. Cross was spinning around as he walked, and spotted Clementine with a toothy grin.

"Come sit down, Cross...I'm going to teach you how to make fire."

Cross stared at her, "Ooooh..."

...

Clementine placed Cross down on the wooden plank of bark making up the children's' bed. It wasn't soft, but at least it helped against the ice. Kai and Cocoum were asleep; Klue was idly standing nearby, as if keeping watch. Cross mumbled in his sleep, incoherent words that made Clementine chortle despite herself.

She moved quietly to the back of the ship. It had grown dark; they didn't dare light any more fires in case it turned them into a beacon for the pirates to locate. Back here the shade deepened, and Clementine's inner prey instinct made her want to bound back to the others. Pushing that away, she sat down to look over the limited contents of her pouch.

Then, something...moved. The sound of feet against eyes; shuffling. Clementine's ears snapped up into rigid posts on her head, her hair standing up. Something was back here, something they hadn't noticed.

Slowly, she slid the dagger off her back and turned to the rocks, moving closer to a jumble of them at the very, very tip of the back. Her heart thudded against her chest. She reached over and gripped the stones, dragging them back and knocking the pile over – and something brown and furry leaped to the side. Clementine reeled back, giving a yelp, and it was all that was needed for Argeth's rolled up body to come sliding into view. He leaped out of the curled up position and tackled the stranger, a strangled yip of fright ringing in the air, and awakening the others.

Argeth stood, slamming a foot down of _his _back. Clementine's eyes widened slowly. A buck lay beneath the armadillo's feet; adorned with messy yet thick brown fur, making him the second darkest creature on the ship apart from Cocoum. His cream underbelly almost matched her own colour, making her appear very pale. His eyes where brown and wide in fright, a typical rabbit. Clementine was jarred by it...she wasn't typical now, was she?

"Who is that?" Kurues had bounded over; panting slightly from the sudden jump the group had gone through. Argeth shrugged, scowling down at the stranger.

"Search me."

"I didn't do anything...!" The buck protested shakily, earning him a further press of Argeth's foot. Clementine frowned slowly.

"Hang on, he might have been here before we where...he wasn't with the pirates."

"'Ow do we know that?" Maut had appeared, one eye bulging in an overly studying manner, an inch away from the rabbit's – he looked beyond unnerved. "He could be some kinda spy!"

Even Argeth, who was pinning him down, didn't seem to find that likely. "Him? Nah." He noted how un-messy his fur was. No pirate by his standards. Clementine quirked a brow,

"So, are you going to continue squishing him...?"

"We can't have another mouth to feed." Argeth said slowly, but without malice- Clementine wondered what he was doing with that tone. It seemed to have some effect, the buck looked uneasy.

"Let's _eat 'um." _Maut declared. The buck looked petrified. Clementine pulled on her ears at the blazingly absurd statement,

"Maut that isn't even possible for you! Let's all calm down!"

"He hasn't done anything to us..." Kurues said slowly, eyeing Argeth, apparently going for another stand-off via stare contest.

Argeth sighed. "Is. He. Useful." He glared down at the buck as he said this. All eyes were now on him. He swallowed,

"...Y-you aren't the pirates..."

"No...we escaped from them." Clementine said quietly, a brow raised, "How'd you know about them?"

He laughed, shakily, without a tad of humour. "H-hard not to know those scoundrels when they killed off the rest of your group...we'd just come off l-land...I don't know how long I've been hidden on this berg, I was sick...by the time I got better I was alone."

Argeth shared a look with Kurues. They remembered the massacre the pirates caused on the raft of ice that they'd found Cross and Klue upon; the merciless slaughter of the refugees. Argeth withdraw his foot from his back and hauled him up. The rabbit staggered, but managed to stay on his feet, his breaths calming. He studied them; they studied him.

"...Argeth, one more mouth to feed won't kill us..." Kurues said quietly. The buck's eyes widened in surprise. Argeth snorted, but made no further protest. Kurues and Clementine grinned at their victory, and the buck slowly grinned back.

"What's your name...?" Clementine asked, quietly. He looked at her brightly, as if seeing her for the first time.

"Burnarr."

...

No prisoners this time, Raz knew as much. Swamping the deck was a tiresome job; nut Squint was too small to do it, Shira didn't have the paws for it and Flynn had none at all, so she was left to put her crafty hands to less thrilling use. She had to admit, they had a lot of guts to pull what they did back there...but their guts wouldn't be staying in their bodies when the Captain found them.

On one hand she was glad to be rid of the pink and red nuisance that called itself a joey; more like a shivering ball of fluff. Raz, however, had to keep her mind off the prospect of killing the child. Killing the child...most children didn't even survive long enough for the pirates to find stragglers, so the prospect had never occurred to her. She was no weeping heart, she disliked children and this was no exception. But the idea wasn't thrilling to say the least.

She gave a contemptuous sniff. She didn't want know, and though she couldn't pinpoint why she knew that Gutt would probably offer a worse death. The joey wouldn't survive anyway; starvation was a lot more gruesome when it came to suffering. Raz kept her gaze locked on her paws, sweeping the brush back and forth in rough strokes. It was too much to 'hope' that Gutt would let them off; he wouldn't. Most of them would die, and though she saw sport in it, she saw a situation she'd rather not get into.

She shook her head after contemplating it for the whole morning. If push came to shove, she'd follow orders. Nothing personal...she'd do it quick.

The armadillo's words popped into her head. She continued her work; arms stiffening. With a gruff hiss she continued on, venting her anger through each stroke. Now there was one creature she'd never miss. A slight smirk tugged at her lips at that. Gutt wouldn't let anyone else have the pleasure of killing him, but at least she'd get to watch.

"I take it we're not doing any more bets?" Shira's casual voice called as she sauntered over, looking very relaxed. Raz wondered if she was putting it on just to annoy her while she was working; usually Shira was tense when there were orders to fulfil. Talk about being a suck-up. But, she wasn't too unbearable otherwise none of the aforementioned bets would have occurred. Raz allowed the stirring smirk to appear full hand.

"Watcha have in mind?"

"Whoever manages to get the rest of the antler off that elk wins." Shira commented, as the elk was always the unfortunate focus of the hunt. Hoofed mammals usually where; and he was the only one who stood a challenge. Shira frowned a bit, next, "And whoever gets rid of that rabbit."

Clementine? Yes, her and her fire had stunted Shira's pride quite a bit; took down a few pegs. Raz would have grinned under better circumstances. "Captain migh' need a healer."

Shira cocked a brow, clearly not convinced. But before any further bargaining over the stake could take place, Squint's signature dagger sliced the ground between them. Raz, indignant, looked upward at him with a pointed glower. Squint looked more crazy than usual; and even more crooked if it was possible. For once that infernal smirk of his wasn't present,

"That little pipsqueak's _my_ target!" He snapped, brandishing another dagger Shira's way - the First Mate regarded him with clear disdain and was not really taking him seriously. Raz snorted,

"Yeah righ', she gets away from yeh every time. And choose a target that suits ye for once." Shira and Raz both laughed at that. Squint snatched up his dagger and stormed off, clearly not changing his mind.

Tensions where high.

A bloodbath was coming.


	30. Chapter 30

_Oh look, a not overly late update._

_That chapter title._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 30

One-Eyed

Silas gazed over the ever-shifting sea below him, blinking onto when absolutely necessary. His Captain had made it transparent that he needed to find the enemy ship soon, or face having both his wings out of commission permanently. Despite the threat a snide smile made its way onto his beak; that rabbit doe was responsible for him being able to fly again. She would be regretting it soon, he quietly promised, more so than meeting Squint.

However, his daily patrol seemed bleak. Nothing in the horizon or in the water left any trace of them; that was the down side of the sea...tracking was near impossible unless they left deliberate clues. On land Shira could have followed trails, scents, paw-prints, but the salty sea left nothing. They hadn't even known what direction they were going in. They where no master navigators; they probably took off in a random direction and hoped for the best.

Which was what he apparently was doing. But then, with a narrowed gaze, he spotted something. Only this high up would one be able to make out a current; a different shade of blue lining up in a winding strip. A current...perhaps they had been caught along?

It was a long shot, and he couldn't stay airborne for too long lest he be too tired to return, but he continued onward.

...

"You seem adamant that they'll come after us."

Kurues regarded Argeth with a reproachful frown. The armadillo glanced his way with a scoff, "You can't honestly think this is over."

"But the ocean is a giant thing; without their narwhals following they can't really know which way we went..."

"You forget they know the waters. There are currents they'll recognise..." Argeth strode past him, slowly, "They probably won't find the right one soon, but they may eventually."

"And what about us? Do we have any plan?" Kurues shot a look over at the supplies; it wasn't years worth of food, let along months. "We escaped; we armed ourselves, but what now?"

"I know this reef." He said stoutly, glancing overboard. Know it...? Kurues decided they needed to have a throurough talk and joined him at the side of the ship. His brow lifted. Indeed, he could see a reef; faint but slightly visable beneath the surface.

"This leads to an island Gutt called Switchback cove. Apparently it has currents that go straight back to the continent." Kurues had to keep his mouth shut to avoid gaping. After a moment's pause he decided he would be able not to,

"How long did you know about this...?"

"I found out about the current to the content back when I was tied up...asked Flynn some very subtle questions." The armadillo's face turned into a slight smirk. Kurues found it was one of those moments when he questioned Argeth, and had to push it away.

"Why not mention it...?" Kurues asked after a while, gazing at the water. Argeth sighed, quietly.

"...Didn't want us to get our hopes up before we'd even escaped." The elk frowned sourly.

"You still think some of us are going to die?"

The armadillo said nothing for some time. Then he lifted his head. "...I don't know, Kurues. But they might if we aren't lucky."

Kurues sighed, and let the conversation drop. Clementine, who had been watching them with growing uncertainty, left them to their own thoughts. Burnarr was sitting on a slab of ice at the side of the ship, paws on his knees, head bent. He didn't look forlorn, but appeared neutral if not a little nervous or uncertain himself. Clementine approached. Upon seeing her feet enter his radios, he raised his head.

"...Hello..." He grinned faintly, but it was brief. Clementine didn't miss the glance he sent to the dagger on her back. She heaved a sigh,

"I didn't ever think I'd have to keep one of these close by...I usually relied on my legs to keep me safe." Burnarr raised a brow at that,

"...So, your group's not been out on sea long?" He ventured cautiously. Clementine shook her head.

"Probably not much longer than you...the Continent's been breaking up more than usual. We saw others...but the pirates took them out like they did the people with you." She realized how that sounded. "...I'm sorry."

He lowered his head, dark eyes glancing away from her, "I didn't know them...we were all huddled by coincidence. The pirates got to us just hours after it happened...they didn't stand a chance. I think others managed to hide, but...there where storms...I was so out of it with illness I didn't contemplate that they could have fallen overboard or just slipped away..." He sighed, too.

Clementine mused on that. They must have been attacked before the Pirates had got to them...they had all been slaughtered, sans the lucky one that was small enough to be missed. She supposed Argeth was the main factor in making them different from...that kind of kill.

That disturbed her. She'd spoken to those animals, those pirates...and they could have killed her and her group just like the others, without batting an eye. It made her mad...like they where catchs of fish rather than fellow animals. Even sabers didn't kill for the fun of it and leave hundreds of corpses in the sea for no apparent reason, unless you count the odd sadist...

"Clementine...?" His quiet voice called. She looked up. He had a worried look on his face. "Did I say something wrong...? I apologize-"

"Don't." Clementine smiled very faintly, tired. "I was just...contemplating our survival." Burnarr tilted his head,

"How did you survive the pirates...?"

"They wanted to play around with us first..." Clementine admitted, rubbing her arm and looking away. She didn't know why, he just had a nice voice that was easy to reply to. A pleasant person, oddly like Kurues. "Argeth is...an old acquaintance of the Captain."

Burnarr's eyes widened. Clementine let that sink in. "...How did you escape...?"

"I used herbs to create a sleeping draught." She realized moments after it left her mouth that it sounded insane. And indeed, he looked aghast...but awe-struck, too.

"...That's..." He shook his head, "Amazing..." Clementine felt her cheeks go scarlet, and scolded herself. She'd never had that happened when Kurues or Argeth complimented her...

"Clemmy!" Maut was calling, and she had a good idea that it was for a bad reason. Clementine smiled a bit at Burnarr before moving off, apologetic at the ended discussion. She approached Maut with a raised brow.

"What is it?"

Maut was grinning, a brow raised in a quirky manner. Clementine heaved a sigh. "First Squint, now this?"

"Squint ain't mate material, Clemmy." Maut said flatly, giving a shrug of someone who thought they knew what they were talking about, "That was just a ruse, girl."

"We just met." She affirmed, eyeing Maut with a pointed frown. The bat continued to smirk at her. Clementine scoffed, aiming to change the subject.

"Is there any reason apart from this that you called me over for?"

Maut's smirk faded quickly. "Yeah, Clem, 'fraid out girl talk ain't just on my mind. I was lookin' over the reef we're following- It's real easy to follow. Looks like Argeth isn't just being paranoid."

Clementine pivoted her head to the side, so Maut wouldn't see any of the unease in her eyes. "Did you see Silas?" That popped into her head first – that dratted wing would have healed by now. Maut, to her relief, shook her head,

"Nah, not yet."

"Good..." Clementine smiled faintly and moved off. The children were huddled near the rocks, finding them the closest thing to land since they were cast into this hell. Kai seemed a little easier, being preoccupied with making a small fire. In the light of day it wouldn't be as noticeable.

She hefted her bag closer to her hip and moved along, aiming to keep herself active. Her inn instincts told her this little bout of peace wouldn't last.

...

Silas could feel his wings begin to tire. He had perhaps a few more minutes before he absolutely had to turn back; lest he risk not reaching the ship again before his strength gave out. He was determined to not have this journey failed, however guesswork it was. He gave an irritable flap of a wing. Why did things go so belly-up? They were just a bunch of cast-always, lost, helpless...it had to have been that infernal armadillo. The one the Captain knew.

He had known the Captain since the beginning, or at least close to it, he'd never seen that large-nosed wretch in the picture. So when...?

Something stuck out far below him, and far ahead, sat on the current drifting gently along. A berg...with little figures moving around. His chest lifted with delight.

"There you are, _mes paures amis..."_

Something slammed into the side of his beak, ramming him hard and sending him swooping off balance. He banked, quickly regaining his posture, only to see the same black blur smack into his chest and send him fluttering back. The bat!

He kicked out as the bat dove towards him a third time, "You are doomed, _chauve-souris stupide_! Soon we will catch up to your little vessel!"

"Send those narwhals and we'll splice 'em up into sushie for ya!" The bat bellowed over the various swipes she took at him, one landing square on his upper beak. He shook his head, dazed, and swooped backwards. He didn't need to follow.

But she apparently hadn't come to chase him off, but knock him down. A second later his leg seared with pain. With a squawk he looked down – and there she was, her teeth clinging to his leg! What a venomous –

"You little - !" He kicked his leg, trying to shake her off. "Let go!"

"Not onf your 'ife!" She bit down harder, sharp little jaws percing. Silas snarled and snapped down at her with his beak, and saw with satisafaction that her eyes had widened. She had not expected _that. _He clamed his beak down on her neck and tore her off at last, tossing her away. He watched her lightweight form plummet like a small pebble into the waters below.

With a snide chortle he steered backwards, aiming on returning to the ship forthwith.

Clementine watched Maut fall with a twist in her chest, her eyes wide. Burnarr jumped up, "Is she...?"

Kurues leaped. His elegant form soared overhead and into the water, and his powerful legs kicked him through it. Clementine swallowed, moving quickly to grab a vine. Of course no one else would have the stamina to get that far out; Maut had flown quite a distance. None of the others would have made it.

Burnarr grabbed the vine first. Blinking, she watched him tie a loop in it, and around the rocks embedded in the back of the ship. He gave a nervous shrug with a grin to match. "H-heh, guess being stuck on this thing gave me a few ideas..."

Clementine simply grinned in return and tied another vine to the one in his hands to length it. Kai had broken into tears and the others were at the tip of the berg, watching Kurues trek through the water. Clementine's grin vanished. She couldn't see her!

Panicked, she searched the waters where she last saw her, panic building, her chest tightening. Kurues dived into the water. Even Argeth's eyes widened.

Seconds passed. No one moved.

Then he surfaced, antlers lifting out of the sea, in his mouth dangled the limp form of the bat. Clementine gave a cry of relief and Argeth shot out the vine, Clementine gripping it, as he did moments later. Reel them in, just like they knew how to do. Kurues felt the vine snag around his neck via loop, and they began tugging him in, thankful for the fact he had such a strong neck.

Clementine counted the moments it took to reel them in. He avoided the sharp sides and staggered aboard, gently lowering Maut. The rabbit doe knelt beside her, turning her over. She was breathing. No real injuries. Relief flooded inside her like a fresh drink. "Maut...?"

"...I'll kill that bird, Clemmy."

It was only then Clementine saw she indeed had a wound. Her eye had been pecked, and it had not opened like the other had. Blood and swelling misshaped the eyelid. Maut knew it, she saw Clementine's look. For once that pale blue eye of hers looked tired, and the faintest look of loss passed over her. Regret. But a smile formed on her face, albeit faint. "...Don' worry. Got another one 'o em to spare..."

Clementine forced herself to nod, a lump in her throat. Maut chortled weakly. "At least I look the part now, eh? Just give me an eyepatch, we're done."

She was no neutral about it. Clementine knew it bothered her. But she didn't say she was sorry, didn't gush over it. She worried it would only make Maut feel worse about it than she already did.

Argeth was staring after Silas. The clouds passed over the sun.


	31. Chapter 31

_A very very late update. I've just been so exhausted, so forgive me on that one._

* * *

Going Under Chapter 31

Sound the Horn

Silas crashed back onto the ship with all the grace of one of Raz's canon ice balls. He skidded painfully across the deck and slammed head-on into a pile of fruit, narrowly missing the weapon stack. His chances of surviving that crash would have been below minus numbers if that happened. Gutt hit the ground instantly; his bulky form amazingly quick in getting down from the mast and striding up to the bird. Gupta and Squint scattered out of his way.

Silas scrambled to his feet immediately, huffing, "They are following the reef, Mon Capitan!" He wheezed, backing away from the perching gaze of the ape. Something stirred in the pits that where his pupils, and Gutt slowly lifted his head, staring ahead as the clogs turned in his brain.

"Switchback cove...Ole' Argeth isn't being too subtle, is he?" He smirked almost jubilantly, a look that made every stomach churn in slightly horror. Even Shira glanced away. Silas forced a grin, which turned more genuine as he remembered other news.

"Their scouting bat is half-blinded now, Mon Capitan. " He stated, and Gutt rose a less interested brow,

"Good. But they'll lose more than their sight when we get through with them." He strode to the front of the ship at that, lifting a clawed duo of fingers to his rough lips and giving a sharp whistle.

The narwhals sped through the water at his command; following the ribbon of reefs below them. Gutt gripped the steering mechanism and sent the ship after them; the gun gleamed against the tall ice as it raised into the early morning.

Squint cackled from nearby Raz's feet but she didn't look at his crooked little face. He was gleeful at having the chance to get back at the doe, and Raz had a feeling the demented ball of grey fur was no longer playing around. Something deranged flapped along with those ears, and he didn't carry those blades for nothing. Raz gripped her own spear. She felt odd doing this, killing the ones they knew – most groups they took down they barely glanced at for more than a few seconds unless they had some kind of work to be gotten out of them, and even then there was no eye contact or chattering.

That little scrawny rabbit girl had made sure to leave her mark in Raz's memory, and she hated her for it. But she wouldn't remain long, Raz told herself. She and her group where different, but they wouldn't survive. They just got lucky. That girl was nothing like her. Her will to survive wasn't big enough, not enough for her to do what she had to do.

She should have killed them all after drugging them; their problems would have been over. But no, the softness remained and she let the pirates live. Raz couldn't give her respect for cowardice.

...

"They're attack us at night, guaranteed. We're still new to the sea; darkness isn't on our side. Or at least that's what they think."

Argeth eyed the line of scruffy, sea-beaten survivors that made up the group. Clementine stood with a new blade on her back and scars on her body; Kurues with his chipped antler and Maut with her sown up eye. They looked like pirates themselves. Argeth knew this disturbed them, and was glad the water was too restless for them to catch a glimpse of their own reflections. He straighter up and dusted the flakes of wood from his hands, having sharpened idle bits of wood until they could go no sharper. He stood before them and placed said hands behind his back.

"We've fought these demented pirates a few times now, each time our fight gets better but ends with us all pulverized." He noted, eying them all. A few eyes drooped their gazes to the floor in slight shame. He cleared his throat, "So they'll come this time, and there will be no more tally marks. No more captures, no more tying up. This time they are going to _kill _us."

Kai's chest began lifting and falling faster than usual, but for once she didn't squeak. Cocoum's vivid green eyes where set on Argeth with an intensity that screamed the fact that he was finally taking this seriously. Argeth inwardly mused if the little ape was frightened, if so, he was good at hiding it.

Clementine looked nervous, of course she did, but was frowning at her feet. She was trying to think of another way out of this, "Even with all our weapons we're no match. There has to be a more permanent and more fool-proof method."

Argeth rose a brow. She sighed, "There's a good chance we won't beat them...you know that."  
"And we won't beat them. But we will throw them off us, and we'll do it again and again untl we get to land."

The group exchanged curious glances. Argeth folded his arms, eyes narrowing. "They won't come onto land. Not far. The reef takes us to an Island, and Islands are just about the only land they can handle. That island has a current. We'll go back to the Continent. Pile of rubble or not, they won't dare come far onto it."

Cross giggled softly, watching Argeth with glazed over eyeballs. The armadillo sent a frown his way, but said nothing. "So that's the plan. They'll attack, we buck them off and keep outrunning them. Shipwreck Cove gives us a head start; we're more used to land. They barely remember the rules of land, tracking's gonna be hard."

"Even for the Saber?" Kurues inquired, tilting his head. Argeth smirked,

"I bet my toe all her nose has smelt in years is the sea. They're colour-blind to land, all they've seen for the most part is grey, white, and blue. Even if they make stops to Shipwreck Cove, they don't stay long enough to learn or re-learn. That's how we were able to sneak around them, how Cross got by them. They've dumbed themselves down without knowing."

"We belong on land." Clementine said quietly, "Once we get there, our situations will which."

"They'll be as clueless as we where when we first fell into the sea." Kurues finished, a grin forming on his long face. The others joined him with enthusiasm that had been dashed when they saw Silas.

"Trees will block off tha' bird, too. And the dark." Maut chortled from nearby, idly picking at her eyepatch. "I still got once good radar eye and it's still betta than him."

A paw slowly raised from the line. Clementine pivoted her head and found Bernarr had raised his arm, looking apprehensive as the newcomer. "Um...can I saw something?"

"This isn't a dictatorship." Kurues joked. Bernarr returned a more uncertain one before turning to face the group, lowering his arm. He looked the most normal out of the lot of them. Clementine tried not to think about it; them, the pirates, then normal people. They where the 'Others' now.

"Um, being on the sea would make them less accustomed to land, no disagreeing on that, but it won't make their memories vanish...and they're still dangerous e-even then." His voice wavered as their smiles faltered. He'd dashed their enthusiasm slightly, and Argeth was glaring. He cleared his throat, "All I'm proposing is that we're careful anyway. Cover tracks..."

"We will use the land to our advantage." Argeth said, cutting him off and eyeing him down in such scrutiny that the buck almost looked like he was shrinking. "We'll lay fake tracks, too. Traps. Make their heads spin."

"Gutt will send the narwhals." Clementine said suddenly. All heads turned to her, her brown eyes broad. "The sleeping draught will have worn off."

"...Then give 'em more." Maut crooned smoothly. The group gaped at her. Clementine tilted her head, watching the bat...fishing. Holding a rod and everything.

"Did you steel that from that badger?"

"Sure did..." She reeled in a fish, white teeth glinting in the early morning sun. "We toss these babies back to the unicorn fish and they check out whenever they get too close."

"LIKE NOW?!"

Kurues's strangled yell was followed by a loud crack of collision and the ship giving a sickening jolt. Clementine fell flat on her back, and the air was cast from her lungs. She lifted her head, eyes squinting to see through the raw sunlight. Water crashed onboard as the ship tilted at the impact. The narwhals had caught up all right.

Argeth gave a yell, leaping over with the sharpened stick in toe, lifting it over his head – and he brought it down on the narwhal, its horn embedded in their ship. The beast shrieked a noise Clementine had never head on land, and it wriggled to withdraw its horn.

Kurues jabbed at the other whale with his antlers, aiming at its eyes with reluctance that was only fought because their lives depended on this.

A pair of arms seized her shoulders and dragged her up. Clementine's eyes broadened and she looked over her shoulder. Bernarr had gotten her to her feet, but drew back after that to give her space. "You alright?"

"I'm fine..." She murmured, looking past him – by the rocks stuck in the ice, Kai and Cross where curled, Klue throwing sticks and stones at the third narwhal at the other side of the ship. Cocoum slid into view, stumbling on nimble but clumsy hands, and began jabbing at it with a stack.

"Move!"

The narwhal didn't go back. It dove further into the ice, giving it another jolt that shook the crew off their feet – and Cocoum plummeted into the water. Clementine gave a cry. Water, narwhals...

"Argeth, Cocoum – "

Cocoum burst from the water...on the narwhal's back, gripping its horn and pulling it back. It drew away from the ice, wriggling to try and buck him off, but he remained, his impossibly strong fingers tight. Clementine's jaw dropped.

The other two narwhals had retreated, squeaking like oversized mice and speeding away. Clementine huffed, watching the third wrestle the sea creature. Cross pointed quietly.

Cocoum gave a yelp as the narwhal rammed its side against the ice in hopes of throwing him off, but he held onto the horn with all his might, his eyes wide with fear but his chest heaving with live. He was going to survive and beat it. He had to get it away from the ship...

He gave a sharp tug, steering it away, and it gave one last ram against the ship, tugging away from his grip. Cocoum swung, almost falling – but somehow his arms found the horn again and he gave one final jerk –

_Snap._

Clementine's heard missed a beat.

The horn of the narwhal, long and pointed, snapped clean off, leaving a blunt stick poking from its head, and the ape folding the log prong with eyes wider than they'd ever been. The narwhal shook its head, squealing, and sped away in agony, knocking Cocoum off. He fell into the water, and gripped the side of the ship...still holding the horn. He was dragged aboard in silence, and he panted, staring at the thing in his hands.

"...Amazing..." Kurues murmured after a while, the group staring down at it. Cruel they felt for doing this to that creature, even if it had tried to kill them. But even so...

Kurues's horns where broken, and now was one of Gutt's.

"...The ship." Cocoum murmured, pointing past them, shivering with the cold of the ocean and the nerves of his victory. The group turned their heads. For once, panic did not strike them as the pirate ship came into view, far...but not too far.

Argeth petted Cocoum's shoulder, giving a stiff not, an odd tinkle in his eye. Perhaps admiration. He was impressed. Cocoum grinned from ear to ear, and lifted the horn into the air.

The group eyed the pirate ship and lifted their fists, giving a chorus of a single defiant yell.

_..._

Gutt stared down at the wounded narwhals with building, incredulous eyes. His crew leaned over the sides, gaping in utter shock, their tongues well and truly tied. Silas swallowed, eyeing the sores caused by the spears of the group, and the supreme lack of horn on the third.

"Who the heck are we dealin' with...?" Raz muttered cautiously, quietly, knowing Gutt was exploding inside. Shira eyed the distressed sea creatures below with a sharp, indignant gaze.

"They aren't a match for us, they just got lucky. They're land scraps, it can't be anything else." She muttered. Raz noted that it sounded like she was trying to convince herself, too.

Gutt chuckled inwardly. His crew stared at him as if he'd lost his mind, or what was left of it. He turned to grin at them, eyes as narrow as slits, "They're upping the ante. This is getting to be more of a challenge boys...shall we show 'um we haven't lost out touch?"

Raz and Shira's spirits flared. Challenge, something they hadn't tasted in such a long time. And now Raz truly believed this lot, as absurd as they looked, where truly a challenged. She smirked, feeling the old boil of bloodlust in her veins. Her nerves craved the fight.

Silas gave a snide, smooth smile; Squint's crooked eyes narrowed the more in silent delight, his grin as sharp as his dagger. He glanced at the ship on the horizon below the rising sun.

She'd be begging for her life when he was through. No tricks, no fire, no sleeping herbs.

_Heads up, __**Clementine. **__This time I'm gonna win..._


	32. Chapter 32

Sorry for the wait, but I got this done eventually. Halloween is a comin'...

* * *

Going Under Chapter 32

Versus

Argeth turned to them all. "They do not take us this time."

Clementine and the rest gave a singular nod, as stiff as bone skeletons dried in the sun, and she hurried to the weapon stack, her head thudding against her ribcage and the blurs of her fellow group members fluttering about her. There was no mercy this time; the pirates would kill them if they got the chance. They couldn't give it to them.

Cocoum's vivid eyeballs where wide and set ahead on the ship; once again Clementine wondered if fear brewed behind them. Kai was shivering beside him, but made not a sound. Argeth spotted her,

"Kid, this time they won't keep us alive. You _can't _let them get a hold of you...keep that in mind, use your legs." Clementine stared, wondering if this was actual words of support. She went to Kai, gripping her shoulder. A watery pair of eyes met hers.

"All you have to do is keep moving...you can hop, you're fast. Keep moving, don't let them touch you. Focus on that, look how small I am – I survived that way. No fear, just keep out of their reach."

Kai stared at her, breathing in trembling little breaths, but bobbed her head up and down. Cross was spinning quietly in circles. Clementine scooped him up. She looked at Burnarr.

"...Please, don't let anyone get to him. If Squint...if someone on that crew gets a hold of me, he mustn't come near." Burnarr's eyes broadened slowly,

"Who's Squint...?" But before he could ask further she'd shoved the child into his arms and ran to continue preparing the ship. Argeth tossed out a stack of sharpened branches, long and pointed, through the salty air. Clementine caught one, then Maut, then Klue. Kurues lifted his head,

"Fire hoe!"

The familiar cracking sound of strong feet against ice through a trunk slid into the air like a knife, and Clementine saw a large ball of ice soar through the air right for their ship. Kurues leaped overhead, long legs stretching, and he swung his lean body around and lifted his powerful hind legs.

He bucked against the ice coming towards him, and despite the fore of the momentum and Raz's strong legs, he kicked it back into the water between the ships. Cocoum gave a whoop.

But the current turned on them. The pirate ship surged closer, and it came up to their side – not behind or in front, to the side; scraping against the jagged edges. They looked up, craning their necks, and silence caught the air.

All Clementine could here was her own heart, thudding on and on, as no sound came from the deck above. And then the pirates leaped overboard.

Raz landed in front of her with a formidable thud, straightening immediately and lifting her spear. She shot a snarl her way and Clementine backed off. Argeth called into the air to fight, and to get their ship away from the pirates'. Kurues lunged at the side of the ship just as Shira pounced onto his back – he smacked her against the tall wall of the pirate berg, knocking her off with sheer quickness.

Cocoum slid around Raz's legs, swiping at them with his knife. She kicked him away as Clementine rushed to the other side of the ship. Chaos shattered the silence and all she could hear was shouting, growling and hisses, and all she could see was snippets, the movements all too fast for her to catch. A gull screech above made her head pivot upwards;

Maut has smashed right smack into Silas, clawing and biting as he tried in vain to throw her off. Clementine breathed in and emptied what was left of her bag onto the slab of wood among the rocks, rubbing them together, and lifting a small flint from beside her. Her paws shook with nerves, her blood pumping.

Then someone grabbed her legs from under her and dragged her back. Clementine shrieked, looking over her shoulder and clawing at the smooth ice ground to stop herself from being pulled, and she saw him. Squint stood over her, grinning mirthlessly, his insane eyes glinting with nothing but malice. Clementine kicked at him, his paw becoming dislodged for a second and she managed to slip away, scrambling to her feet to face him. The rabbit doe drew her own knife from her back, panting as he slowly tried to circle her, smirking away. She kept her feet going, keeping space between them.

Squint cackled lowly, his shoulders hunching. "This is the last time we're gonna play, Girlie...let's make it fun." Clementine scowled back,

"I have no intention of becoming your plaything, Squint...I'll remove your eye if it means straightening you out." She lifted her blade, for once able to keep the waiver from her voice. Squint blinked at her once – and pounced.

Clementine reeled back, whipping her blade back and further to keep him from reaching her, just as a large crash made the ship jostle. A quick glance told her all she needed to know. Gutt handed come aboard, landing like a bolder in the centre of the deck; with one swipe of his long arm he smacked Glett aside and stormed across towards Argeth. The armadillo whipped around on agile feet, turning his blades over in his hands. Their snarls mirrored each others, and for a second both crews stared at them.

Gutt lunged, and Argeth dodged. Argeth swiped and Gutt avoided. The pattern went on and the chaotic fighting resumed; Kurues kicking at Shira, Cocoum distracting Raz, Silas and Maut clawing at each other in the windy sky above as storm clouds gathered to watch the arena below. The boar rammed at Glett, both of them giving off primitive grunts, the badger was trying to toss Klue off his back as the young possum tried to keep his paws clamped over the pirate's eyes to stop him seeing.

And Clementine was with Squint. Breathing in she lunged, swiping with her, forcing him to draw back. She had no idea whether to actually hurt him or keep him back; her nerves where boiling to breaking point and didn't allow her to have any other opinion, just self preservation. Keep him back, avoid said her instincts.

Squint growled, clenching his fists, raging at the fact he couldn't get near. Clementine swallowed, forcing a scowl onto her face as they stared each other down, blades brandished.

Clementine heard a squeak. Kai. She turned her head, but did not see her – and it was the biggest mistake she ever made. She felt Squint collide with her back, knocking her onto her stomach beneath him. She struggled, panic making her mind spin, paws clawing at the ground and her back legs kicking to get him off. But a paw gripped her hand and pushed it down; forcing her cheek against the ice. Clementine felt Squint pin her down with his own weight, her arms trapped and her head locked in his grip. She could see the fighting, and tried to keep looking at it, not him. He snickered from above; she could feel his whiskers tickle her other cheek as he leaned down.

"Looks like I win again, girlie..." Slowly, oh so slowly, he slid his blade gently across the back of her neck. Clementine squirmed, but he pressed his blade against her skin with added pressure, forcing her to go still. He wasn't playing this time, he aimed to kill her she knew.

She kicked her legs full force, and her ankle caught him in the back, knocking him just a tad off balance. Squint growled and lifted his blade, his fingers digging into her forehead painfully. Clementine's arm had come free in the shift and she elbowed him in the stomach, knocking him off at last. She stumbled to her feet.

"_Clementine!"_

Burnarr...?

Burnarr had scrambled over, coming between her and the growling Squint. Cross was nowhere in sight. Clementine held her forearms, swaying slightly, her head light. Squint eyed Burnarr up and down, face contorted in fury and confusion, "Who're you?!"

Burnarr didn't answer, fists clenched, face hard. Then, slowly, he looked over his shoulder at Clementine. "...Is this Cross's father?"

Clementine's mind went blank, perplexed. Wait, did he think –

Suddenly an unexplained fury came over Squint and he lunged at Burnarr; snacking into him. The brown rabbit clawed back, kicking and punching, and the two rolled back. Clementine gaped. At least Burnarr could handle him, now she had to find Kai –

She tried to ignore what her mind hinted they where fighting over, as Squint's intentions had never been anything like Burnarr...

A spearhead landed with a crack in front of her. Clementine looked up at find Raz glowering down at her. She scowled back.

"I thought you where smarter than the rest of them, but I was wrong. You just keep continuing this stupid situation..."

Raz snarled in an ugly manner, unimpressed, "Vice versa, Shorty. You have a lotta guts, but you still can't beat us."

"Hoping you can get break a bit of a sweat for once?" Clementine said slowly, beginning to back away. Raz actually smirked faintly.

"Mebbe."

Clementine tossed a flint of ice at her, and ran for it. Raz leaped overhead and landed in front of her; Clementine kicked her legs and repeated an old trick, kicking off her spear, then her head, and swooping over her like a game of leap frogs. She sped towards her herbs, snatching up a duo of rock pieces on the way, scraping them together. Sparks flew in the stormy air.

Kai tried to see Clementine through the din, but only saw hundreds of shapes moving far too fast to catch. Cross was not in sight, Cocoum neither, and she could feel panic twisting her little chest. N, no, she told herself, she couldn't cry, she had to be strong.

She held her sharp spear, made by the armadillo man, tighter to her chest, remaining among the rocks. Her eyes flickered around; trying to pinpoint something at least...and she saw Raz. Raz had batted away the bat woman, who had grown tired of picking on the gull and swooped down to block her view. Kai stared.

Then Raz's bloodshot eyes landed on hers. Kai squeaked, drawing back, her breathing getting quicker. Raz had a strange frown on her face, and slowly came closer, eyes never leaving her. Kai remembered the armadillo's words, but then remembered Raz's. Be tough.

She threw the sharp spear at her. Raz's eyes widened in a snap and she reeled to the left; the sharp wood scratching her cheek. The older jill slowly drew her paw across it, feeling blood draw from the rough surface of her face. She looked surprised to actually be hit.

Kai felt like a statue, unable to move. She'd done it. She'd hit her.

Raz scowled and hopped in front of her, cornering her. Kai felt despair flood her senses and she began whimpering quietly, curling against the rock. Raz's paw seized her by the fur of her neck, restricting her breathing and lifted her into the air, and her trembling only increased.

_I don' wanna die, I don' wanna..._

And for some reason she didn't want it to be Raz who hurt her, who made her sleep forever. She didn't understand the older jill; she scowled at her but kept her warm in her pouch like her mother once did, she kept her alive yet kept saying she could die easily. But now the armadillo said there was no more waiting.

She looked up at her, tears spilling over soft little cheeks. Raz pinned her small body back against the rocks behind her, lifting the point of her spear to her neck. Slowly, she closed her eyes and inhaled the salty, bitter and merciless air into her lungs.

"...Sorry, joey, this is how its gonna end. I warned ye..."

Kai's little paws lifted, falling onto Raz's, ears flopped against her head, trying weakly even then to pry her away, to live.

Raz told herself to do it. It was so easy, it could be incredibly simple and quick. The joey wouldn't even feel a thing.

...She pressed the spear closer, forcing more pressure onto the joey's fragile neck. But as Kai began squealing softly in despair, she could go no further. She cursed herself, and dropped the child. Kai landed with a small squeal, curling into a ball at her feet.

Clementine stared at her. Raz looked back in defiance, and the world seemed to slow around the two women, and alone they watched each other, Clementine's eyes wide in confusion and something else, Raz retorting soundlessly.

Cocoum turned his head, panting, and saw Gutt and Argeth getting closer and closer to the pointed tip of the ship; Argeth getting closer and closer to the edge; small arms remarkably stopping every blow Gutt threw. Gutt gave a raucous laugh, "Too bad, Arg, you almost had me impressed!"

"Sorry I can't say the same about you!" Argeth called, leaping over the fishbone blade like a skipping rope coming at him. He landed with a huff, "This time you'll take your own leave, and we won't be coming with you!"

Their blades clashed, and locked. Argeth grunted, glaring foully up at the ape. Gut snarled, "Oh, trust me, _chum, _I don't really mind if you don't...the bottom of the sea would suit me fine."

Cocoum swallowed, and found his limbs carrying him closer, faster, and he leaped, right onto Gutt's sturdy, black back – and he sunk his teeth into his shoulder. The sharp unexpected pain made him reel back just a little from Argeth. Cocoum let go, his teeth free bug his fingers gripping the Captain's shoulder still – and for a second their eyes met, Gutt's blazing with murderous fury. He didn't even look like a living being anymore; just a mad creature. Cocoum felt true fear spread through him like a wild forest fire.

And then fire came.

It flew through the air, and smacked into the eyes of the Captain, evoking a roar that echoed through the sea. The pirates gaped, horrified as their backing-up bravado sunk. Gutt rubbed at his eyelids, but it did not good to help his sight. Clementine stood, her hands flaming, her own palms singing with pain, but she didn't let go of the herbs just yet.

"Cocoum, let go!" She called. The ape child leaped out of the way, and she threw what was left of the fiery herbs at the Captain.


End file.
